A Truly Unexpected Adventure
by SkylarProngsJr
Summary: What if Bilbo Baggins had been different? What if he hadn't been a normal hobbit? How many things would be different on the Company's quest to reclaim Erebor? Join our bad-ass hobbit, 13 mountain men (dwarves) , and a slight insane wizard as they journey across Middle Earth, fighting orcs and trolls alike, on a tale like no other, full of pain, heart ache, and adventure.
1. Prologue

While I would love to own The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings series, I sadly have nothing and am currently penniless and have to beg my parents to buy me necessaries of life; things like chocolate, chick fil a, and books. I lead a sad life.

* * *

The Hobbit: A Truly Unexpected Adventure

"Common"

" _Sindarin"_

" **Khuzdul"**

" _ **Black Speech"**_

Prologue

Bilbo Baggins-Took loved his life. His parents would wake him up early and his mother, Belladonna, would tell him stories of her adventures while his father taught him everything he thought a 'respectable hobbit' ought to know, like cooking, map reading, and sewing, although his mother managed to turn that around on him, when instead of hobbit clothes, they made tunics, and other clothes 'fit for adventures.'

Bilbo was an odd fauntling, with his fast thinking and his sharp tongue and wit. He was always practicing his fighting with his wooden sword, gifted to him by the wizard Gandalf the Grey. If that wasn't weird enough, he loved going on adventures, and his mother actually encouraged him to explore the world! She said that when the time comes for his own real adventure without him Ma holding his hand along the way, she wanted him to be as prepared as he could be. His father, although supportive of his family's weird ways, thought that adventures were foolish things that would make them late for dinner. Now that didn't mean that they didn't go on adventures anyway. In fact, on Bilbo's 17th birthday, Belladonna took him to meet her elf friends, Elrond and his family! The twins, Elladan and Elrohir, were the ones who gifted him his first real weapons, a short elven sword, a set of throwing knives, and a bow with a quiver full of arrows. For the months that he was in Rivendell, Bilbo worked towards mastering his weapons, along with all of the languages that Arwen insisted that he learn. He eventually did, exactly one year after they had first been gifted to him. It was on this night, the night of Bilbo's 18 birthday, that Lord Elrond received a letter from the Lady Galadriel, with astounding news. She spoke of a prophecy she had given just the day before of a young hobbit, the chosen of the Valor, that would save them all. It was foretold that the fauntling, half Baggins, half Took, would have powers previously unheard of on Middle Earth since the earliest days to help him on his journey.

The letter went on to explain how she thinks Bilbo is the one that is being spoken of, and that if they wanted him to succeed when his time came, that he would need training before he could return to the Shire, back home. That night, Bilbo awoke screaming. His body burned and it was all he could do to not let the tears in his eyes fall. His door busted open, and the others ran in, weapons drawn. Belladonna made to run to her son's side but Elrond held her back, pressing her to him.

"Wait, you must wait! Lady Galadriel said that he was to be marked somehow and that we mustn't interrupt the process!" His voice was calm and level, but Belladonna could hear the emotion hidden in his voice, which is why instead of fighting, she fell to the floor, pulling the elf lord down with her. Her eyes never left Bilbo as he continued to writhe in pain, and it felt as if hours had passed before he stilled, his breath coming out in heaves. He opened his eyes and saw his mother at his right, staring down at his arms. He looked down and gasped. On each arm, two tattoos circled his bicep each one centering on a certain element. On his right arm, there was earth and water, on his left, fire and air. He could feel his back throbbing and allowed Elrond to pull him up into a sitting position. He heard Arwen gasp.

"What is it?" He croaked, his voice hoarse from screaming. Elladan and Elrohir lifted him to his feet and guided him to a nearby mirror. Bilbo's mouth fell open. Across the top of his back, was the most intricate and detailed tattoo he had ever seen. Starting at the bottom of his neck, it's tail ending at the small of his back, was a bird that he had no idea what it was, with its wings spread out to his shoulder blades. Around the majestic bird were several animals, corresponding with the tattoos on his arms. To the left of the bird was a glorious lion surrounded by fire and underneath was an eagle with its wings slightly spread, as if she was gliding through the air. On the right of his back, starting just under his right shoulder blade was a wolf standing tall and proud, mountains faintly outlined behind him. The last tattoo was a sea otter with ocean water swirling around him. The craziest thing was that even as Bilbo stared at the tattoo, he could tell it was moving. The wolf shaking out its hair, the otter swimming through the water, and, if he concentrated hard enough, he swore he could hear the faint singing of a bird, that filled him with happiness and calmed his thoughts. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Does anyone want to tell me what this is about?" That was the day that Bilbo found out that he was different. That he was powerful. That he was to stay in Rivendell and say goodbye to his parents, who he wouldn't be seeing for however long it took him to train. No matter that he rarely ever acted his age, he was still only a fauntling, barely past the age of 7 in the years of men, and not being able to see his parents for any long period of time was always going to be hard. But Bilbo managed it and for 10 years he lived with the elves, growing close to Elrond and his children, even being considered kin. He grew his hair out, but kept it tied back at the nape of his neck, so to keep the golden curls out of his face when he used his bow.

Bilbo learned how to shoot as good as anyone and could move quieter than even the most experienced of trackers. Leaves and roots would move out of his way, allowing him to move invisibly when ever he wished. He could beat most elves in a fair fight, and all of them in an unfair one. He was well versed in all languages that weren't secret, including iglishmek, sindarin, and even most forms of black speech (Bilbo had hated learning that one). He was tall for a hobbit, resting at the average height of a dwarf, and lacked the potbelly that was a tell tale sign of shire-folk. While he was lean, his body was layered with muscles from his training.

The first few years after his mother left him with the elves, Bilbo worked towards mastering any and all weapons that the elves had available to him, which were a lot. He was uncannily good with weapons at his young age, impressing even the mighty Glorfindel with his skills. He mastered the bow, sword, throwing knives, spear, and even small axes along with several other weapons! While Bungo, his father will always be his da, Lord Elrond grew to become an ada, so that is what Bilbo called him. Adar insisted that he learned meditation, saying that it would help when he decided to begin training with the elements. And it did.

The training with his powers took much longer, starting out with him only being able to lift small pebbles or control small fires that had already been created. Eventually Bilbo mastered each of the four elements, but found that he did have limits of large amounts of power he could use, and he had learned not to push the boundaries, lest he want to pass out for days on end.

Arwen wouldn't allow him to just train all day, doing nothing fun. She always said that even though he was a warrior, he was still just a fauntling who deserved to have fun. So Adar taught Bilbo tricks on his black pony, Kex, Elrohir and Elladan taught him how to prank anyone and everyone, and get away with it, too, while Arwen taught him the one thing that he loves even more than riding his pony. Music.

She taught him how to sing hundreds of different songs, and play dozens of different instruments, his favorite being the fiddle, because it was the instrument that his father used to play when it was his turn to go to bed. Eventually, it was time for him to go back to the Shire, leaving with several large trunks, one filled with his clothes, two full of his weapons, and three of everything else his second family thought he would need until whenever it was that he returned to Rivendell. Bilbo had told himself that he wasn't going to cry when he saw his parents again, but he couldn't help it when he finally saw them sitting on the bench outside Bag-End, his Da using his pipe to make smoke rings and his Ma sewing (something that he thought looked like elven clothes) and simply stared at them for a few seconds before leaping off of Kex and over the fence, ending with a roll before launching himself into his mother's waiting arms. If a few tears were shed, he thought that he could be forgiven, he was still a faunt after all. The next year was full of him telling stories to his parents about all of his adventures. They developed into a similar routine they had had before he left, with Bilbo and Belladonna practicing their fighting in the morning before breakfast. Afterwards Bilbo would listen to Bungo tell stories of their ancestors, mixing in lessons of how to be a lord (the Baggins' were a very respectable family after all. Not quite as well known as the Took's but then again, the head of that family was also the Thain. As Bilbo was the direct heir to one and about the fourth heir to the other, he did need to know somethings,) within them. He told many stories of goblins, and how it was important that Bilbo avoided them as much as he could while on his adventures, for they would love to get their hands on him, especially. During the afternoon, Bilbo would spend the rest of the time before dinner with the younger fauntlings telling them stories and teaching them swordplay with wooden swords, all the while trying to ignore the many whispers of that mad Baggins-Took and how all of his adventuring was unnatural. The adults got crueler in their comments until finally, the kids who had grown to adore their "big brother" told them off, saying that they've really been wanting to try their sword skills against an adult and asked if they knew anyone that would be willing to try. That shut them up, and made Bilbo laugh hysterically.

The day he turned 29, Bilbo got the best present he had ever been given. Now while it is true that hobbits care not for gold or jewels or the like, but all of them got a gold necklace when they turned 29 that they treasured above all else and seldom took off. On his birthday, his Ma allowed him to sleep in, while Da made him his favorite breakfast. When Bilbo finally awoke it was to the smell of sausage and sweet cakes. He made his way sleepily into the dining room, bumping into several walls as he went. But when he saw what was in front of his chair at the table, he was instantly awake. After a nod from his mother, he ran to the small pile of presents and grabbed the top one. From his elven family he got a new set of throwing knives from Ada, several quivers of arrows from the twins, and, his best present so far in his opinion, a wooden fiddle lined with golden designs from Arwen. He received several homemade necklaces and bracelets from the other kids in the shire, which made him laugh. They were simple, yet elegant and beautiful at the same time, with beads weaved into the leather making them sparkle in the morning sun.

Finally he reached the present from his parents and slowly opened the velvet-lined box. What he saw made him gasp. On a simple golden chain laid the most beautiful pendants he had ever seen. While most hobbit's necklaces only had a single pendant, Bilbo's had four. The first two were what he had expected, the Took and Baggins family crest, not that that made them any less important. The Baggins had the words 'The most important things in life are good family, good friends, and good food', surrounded by a skunk, sparrow, and fox. The Took crest on the second pendant had words saying ' _if adventure is knocking on your door, invite it in'_ with a wolf, snake, and a robin with two swords crossing over the whole thing. The third one made him smile manically, because he knew that only his family would understand it's significance. It was a replica of the tattoo on his back down to the last detail and he had to stop himself from throwing his arms around his parents. The last one though had him just barely holding back tears. It was Elrond's crest, etched into the golden disk like the others. A gorgeous bow and arrow sat in the middle, the edges lined with silver with words like family, strength and perseverance, all in Sindarin. He knew that his Adar thought of him as kin, as did his kids, but for Bilbo to wear this with his other crests meant that the elven lord claimed him as his own, that he was under his protection, that he loved him. He was family. This time, Bilbo did throw his arms around his parents before allowing his da to fasten the necklace around his neck. He leaned into his mother as she weaved small braids into his hair before pulling it back and fastening it with one of the bracelets from the fauntlings.

Yes, Bilbo Baggins-Took loved his life.

Which meant that it didn't last.

He remembered the scarcity of food, the screams, the blood, oh yavanna, the blood. He remembered the glint of a sword, pain, falling, and then… nothing. He woke up two days later with a blood soaked bandage around his torso and his grandfather sitting at his bedside, tears in his eyes. His parents were gone, murdered and Bilbo himself almost killed, would've died if it hadn't been for the ranger that had found him in the snow. For the first time since he was 17, Bilbo really cried. He sobbed for his parents, of the knowledge that his ma would never run her hand through his hair again, his da wouldn't read him stories by the fire ever again because they were **gone.** He couldn't save them. He fell into a restless sleep as his grandfather rocked him in his arms. Bilbo's dreams were plagued with nightmares.

When spring came, Bilbo, much to his Uncle Isengrim's dismay, moved back to Bag End. While his greedy cousins tried to say that Bilbo was to young to live on his own - c'mon he was only 4 years from his majority - and that they should live with him, his grandfather put a stop to it, saying that the next person who tried to steal Bag-End from his grandson would have to answer to him, and no one wanted to cross the Thain. The time Bilbo spent with his mother's family allowed him to understand that there was nothing he could've done to save his parents, and he had begun to heal. Elrond had wanted him to come live in Rivendell, but Bilbo couldn't leave Bag-End until his 50th birthday, (that's when most hobbits build/buy their own houses to settle down in) lest he wanted to lose it forever. When he got back home and all of the fauntlings ran up to him, each making sure that he was alright, he healed even more, and spent the rest of the afternoon chasing them through the town and making up stories about heroic hobbits that defeat dragons and battles orcs.

That night, Bilbo decided that his parents wouldn't want him to stop training or linger on their deaths forever. They would want him to walk away from this stronger, not broken. That night, Bilbo Baggins-Took went to sleep without nightmares for the first time in months.


	2. Chapter 1: Meddlesome Old Wizards

Sadly I do not own the wonderful world of Middle Earth and currently rely on my parents to buy me chocolate and chick fil a to go along with my books

* * *

Chapter One: Meddlesome Old Wizards

"Common"

 _"Sindarin"_

 **"Khuzdul"**

 _ **"Black Speech"**_

Everyone in the Shire lived perfectly respectable lives, thank you very much. Everyone, that is, except Bilbo Baggins-Took. What was so different about Young Bilbo? Well the gentle-folk of the shire had made a list:

He only ate three meals a day!

He lacked a respectable belly

He fought with weapons other than conkers

He wore his hair long and allowed the fauntlings to weave braids into it

He was uncannily smart and always had a comeback ready if he thought you crossed the line at any given time

He refused to wear respectable hobbit clothes, instead choosing to make his own elven-like tunic

Despite all of that, the fauntlings adored him and all the lasses wanted nothing more than for him to choose one of them to marry

Perhaps the 50 year old Bilbo wasn't so bad. Besides the occasional trip into the forest, he never really went on any adventures like he used to, so maybe he was finally going to settle down. The shire folk should've known better than to try and predict the actions of a half Took half Baggins.

Sitting on the bench in his front yard and smoking his father's old pipe was one of Bilbo's favorite pastimes, next to playing with the children of the Shire and practicing his fighting. He was rather proud that he could make the most impressive smoke images, but then again he did have an unfair advantage. The wind would do whatever he asked it to, for the wind was his friend, a constant friend, who worried more than Primula Brandybuck. While he could control the wind indefinitely, he found that the wind loved helping him, so instead of ordering it to do something, he would ask it instead. Most of the time, the wind knew exactly what he needed before he even knew he needed it. Bilbo trusted the wind to protect him no matter what.

When the old wizard came up to Bilbo's front gate, he was most impressed with the smoke dragon that was flying around the hobbit's head. He was so transfixed that he missed the glare that was sent his way and only began to speak when the dragon exploded leaving behind a puff of smoke.

"Hello," the wizard began. "I am Gan-"

"Yes, Yes I know who you are, Gandalf. You are about 21 years too late if you wished to speak to my mother, so why are you here?" Taken aback by the hobbit's hostile tone, Gandalf stumbled over his words a bit.

"W-well, I am looking for someone to share an adventure with." He was not prepared to get a facefull of angry hobbit, but he most certainly did not let out a rather girlish squeak.

"You come to my house years late and all you say is that? Well, no thank you! I am not in the mood to entertain 13 dwarrows and a meddlesome old wizard tonight so you may be on your way." The wizard took a step back, startled.

"My dear Bilbo, how did you know about the dwarves?"

"If your adventure is so top secret than you should learn not to mumble to yourself around hobbits. Did you think that these ears were just for show? Now, go and tell your band of mountain men that I have no interest in going on an adventure, nor being any type of thief, and that is that. Now goodmorning!"

"To think I would live to be goodmorning'd by Belladonna Took's son!" Bilbo froze and Gandalf knew that he said something that he shouldn't have.

"Do not speak of her like you have the right to call her a friend. You are the reason she is dead. You said that you would gladly escort us to my grandfather's house that winter, yet you never showed up so we had to try and make the journey ourselves. So don't give me that 'I'm the all superior wizard listen to me' act you did when I was a fauntling." The wizard seemed to have shrunk in on himself during the hobbit's rant, knowing that he was right, and so was surprised by the next words that followed a sigh from the younger man.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have exploded on you like that. Ma always spoke highly of you so you deserve the benefit of the doubt. You have two minutes to explain your adventure, who all you told to come to my house without my permission, and what you told them to expect." Gandalf stared after the hobbit before coming back into his senses and started to explain the Company of Thorin Oakenshield and his quest to reclaim Erebor and that he had told 13 dwarves that there would be food. Bilbo nodded.

"And where do I fit into this?" The wizard looked down, seeming to be nervous.

"Uh, well I can't tell you yet. Not until everyone else is here." Sighing, Bilbo nodded.

"Well I guess I better go and start cooking. You may leave now, Gandalf." Once the wizard was sure that the hobbit was in his home, he walked up to the door and scratched a sign into the wood. Nodding to himself, Gandalf strolled back down the lane, thinking that this was to be a very interesting night indeed.

Bilbo sighed. Today was the day he was supposed to go to Rivendell. Looks like that wouldn't be happening. Now he had to entertain a dozen dwarrow for who knows how long. This was going to be a long- no wait. No one said that he couldn't mess with his guests. A mischievous smile broke out on Bilbo's face.

But he would need help making dinner. Perhaps Hamfast would lend a hand.

9 hours later the sun was beginning to set and Bilbo and Hamfast finally finished making dinner. Neither knew how much a dwarf ate so they decided to go a little overboard. Beef, chicken, pork and fowl were all cooked and set on the table, along with several kegs of the shires best ale. The kitchen was overflowing with desserts, pastries, cookies, cakes, even an apple cobbler. Bilbo tried giving his friend payment for his help but he was waved off, Hamfast saying that he was glad to help. Bilbo did convince him to take a few cakes home, though. As Bilbo was seeing the gardener out, a fauntling named Rosie ran up. She was a sweet little girl, with red hair and flushed cheeks from her run.

"Bilbo, Bilbo, there are dwarves in the market!" Her eyes were shining as she looked up at the man she considered a brother. "Can me and the others take him down like you showed us?" Bilbo covered up his laughs with coughs and bent down so he was the little girl's height.

"No, Rosie. I'm afraid that they are to be my guests." Bilbo saw her face fall and quickly continued on. "But if they start causing trouble, you won't be held responsible for whatever you do okay?" At her eager nod, he smiled. "Do me a favor though. If you think that any of them seem to be lost, would you and the others show them to my house?" Without waiting for an answer, Bilbo grabbed her sides and tickled her, making her squeal and try to get down. He settled her on his hip. "Can you do that?" She nodded and jumped down from his arms. "Then you better run back to the market, lest you miss them." Rosie took off and was over the hill by the time the older hobbit blinked.

Chuckling to himself, Bilbo turned back to his house and swung himself up onto the hill his home was under. Pulling a piece of wood and one of his knives out of his many hidden pockets, he started carving into the soft timber, keeping his eyes on the road. Until the dwarrows arrived, there was nothing to do but wait and watch.

Dwalin had no idea hobbits could be so viscous. All he had done was approach a young woman's stall to ask directions to whose ever house he was supposed to be going to when suddenly he felt several small bodies jump on him from behind, disarming him in seconds. He stood there gobsmacked. He hadn't had his weapons so easily taken since he was a teen and even then it had been against a competitor more than twice his age. Looking at his attackers, he was quite ashamed of himself for being snuck up on by children no less. And yet he couldn't help but admire how seamlessly they had worked as a team, the younger ones relieving him of his weapons before handing them to the noticeably older hobbits. They had even gotten his secret dagger for Mahal's sake.

"What business do you have in the shire?" An older boy said, managing to make Dwalin feel intimidated, which he hadn't thought possible - the lad was only 3 feet tall!

"I -" he was cut off when a little girl barreled into the group.

"Marco, Bilbo said that we can't practice on them. That they are his guests and if they look lost to point them to Bag End." The children all frowned, clearly disappointed.

"Thank you Rosie." The hobbit, Marco, turned back to Dwalin with a sheepish grin on his face. "Sorry 'bout that, Master Dwarf. Bilbo said you could never be too careful. Guys, we have to give him back his weapons." With a sigh, the younger ones took the weapons back and before Dwalin could blink, he had them back exactly where they'd been before the midget ambush. The dwarf was vaguely aware of his mouth falling open and snapped it shut.

"Yes, well uh thank you? Would you mind showing me to this uh Bilbo's house?" He noticed how the younger ones glanced up at Marco before two of them grabbed his hands and began pulling him down the lane.

"You'll like my brother. Well he's not really my brother, he's kind of like everyone's brother because that's what he acts like. He was the one who taught us how to disarm you." The lass, Rosie kept babbling away about her big brother but Dwalin was just a little apprehensive. Just what was the wizard getting them into to?

The sound of two laughing children brought his back to the present and he realized that they were standing just outside a rather magnificent house, although Dwalin wasn't sure what was so funny. He pried his hands away from the two children and gently pushed them back down the road. They ran off giggling making the dwarf shake his head. Hobbits were weird creatures.

Dwalin cautiously turned back to the house and opened the gate. Instead of going to the door where he could see the faintly glowing khuzdul word meaning **burglar for hire** , he walked to the window and peered through the crystal clear glass. The house seem empty, but that didn't make sense because there was food piled high on the table, making his mouth water just by looking at it.

"What are you doing?" A voice from above him caused him to swing his axe in a wide arch. "Woah woah woah, careful, you could hurt somebody with that thing. Up here." Dwalin took a step back and looked above the door. Sitting on the grass was a, if he was honest with himself, very handsome hobbit, or at least what he thinks is a hobbit, for the only thing he has in common with the people he saw in the town were the hairy feet and slightly pointed ears. "I'm surprised you didn't notice me before; I was making faces at you, that's what made Rosie and Margot laugh so much." Still a little lost the dwarf nodded.

"Dwalin at your service." He bowed his head, catching sight of the hobbit tucking a knife into his belt. He didn't miss the sword strapped to his hip either. "You any good with those weapons?" Dwalin jumped a little when the man swung down from the roof and gracefully landed on his feet.

"Bilbo Baggins-Took at yours and your family's." Bilbo smirked boyishly at the dwarf. "And yes, I can use my weapons. In fact, I dare say that I might have more weapons than even you." At Dwalin's skeptical look he nodded towards the door. "I'll show you if you like." He grabbed the handle of the door. "But first, I want you to tell me what this sign means." Bilbo pointed to the faintly glowing carving on the green door.

"Don't you know what it means, laddie?" Bilbo snorted.

"I'm not one to waste time. Fool around? Definitely. But you see, I sort of have a flair for languages and that is not in anyone that I know."

"Well, of course you wouldn't know it. Not many do. It's khuzdul, the dwarven language. Very secret. It roughly means burglar for hire, lots of adventure, any pay."

"Meddlesome old wizard." Bilbo pushed open the door and gestured for Dwalin to follow him. "He turned up on my doorstep this morning looking for someone to go on an adventure with, mind you this is the first I've heard of this, and suddenly says that 13 dwarrow are coming for dinner. He's lucky hobbits can cook so fast or he would have had a hoard of hungry men on his hands." The dwarf looked up at the hobbit.

"You only heard of this this morning? The wizard said that you had been informed weeks ago." Bilbo sighed.

"What did I say? Meddlesome old wizard." Stopping in front of a door, the hobbit looked over his shoulder at his guest. "Now, try not to faint." He pushed the door open and Dwalin sucked in a breath. It was gorgeous. Hundreds of weapons hung on racks and on the walls, ranging from swords to axes to bows. And the hobbit could use them all? Dwalin was not jealous at all.

"Well, while you are admiring my weaponry, I shall go and answer the door. The next arrival has been standing on my front porch for several minutes, and my father always said it is rude to keep a guest waiting. Feel free to hold anything." He walked to the door. "Oh and Master Dwalin." The dwarf turned just in time to catch the scabbard thrown at him. "Hang that up will you?"

Dwalin blinked owlishly at the sword before looking back up only to discover that Bilbo was gone. Shaking his head, Dwalin wondered if Thorin knew just who he was inviting on their quest.

Opening the door, Bilbo found himself staring into the eyes of a grandfatherly looking dwarf with white hair and beard. Balin looked at the lad in front of him and was sure that he had gotten the wrong door for this man looked nothing like the hobbits in the town. Alas, he was wrong.

"Bilbo Baggins-Took at yours and your family's." The dwarf was startled from his thoughts as the hobbit tilted his head in acknowledgment. "Based on the fact that you look relatively calm and unfrazzled, I'm guessing that the fauntlings listened to me. Good." Bewildered, the dwarf cleared his throat.

"Yes, well, Balin at your service. And um, what do you mean that it's good that the lads and lasses listened to you? They were perfectly polite, even pointed me in the right direction." Bilbo grinned.

"Exactly." He offered his hand and took Balin's coat, hanging it up to the dark green one already drying on the wall. "Say, you wouldn't happen to be related to Master Dwalin would you?" At Balin's reply of brothers, Bilbo nodded. "I thought so. I will show you to him, and he can explain the mystery of the fauntlings to you. This way now!" He started off down the hall leaving a flustered Balin to follow at a more sedate pace. When they reached the room that his brother was in, the dwarf let out a low whistle. If nothing else, the hobbit had an impressive array of weapons. He didn't blame Dwalin for just brushing his hands along each wall of weapons. The detail was incredible on each weapon.

"Master Dwalin," he spun around. "Would you be so kind as to hand me that bow from behind you? No, the wooden one with the carvings. Thank you." Bilbo clapped his hands together. "Now, while you explain to your dear brother your experience in the market, I have to go and answer the door." As if on cue, a solid knock sounded throughout the house. Bilbo swung his bow onto his shoulder and was gone before either dwarf could say a word. Balin turned to his younger brother.

"Are all hobbits like this?" Dwalin laughed.

"Our Burglar and his 'siblings' are, at least." Mahal help them all.

Kili and Fili had been dragged through the town by two little children that thought that their beards were hilarious. Eventually they stopped in front of a green door. The two kids motioned for them to knock and no sooner had they done so, the door opened.

"BILBO!" Fili had to restrain himself from covering his ears as the two toddlers launched themselves at the man in the doorway. He caught them with ease, swinging them onto his sides, one on each hip.

"How are my two favorite Sackvilles today?" They giggled.

"Good, we met dwarves!" one said, pointing to Fili and Kili.

"We brought them to you just like Marco told us to!" Bilbo raised his eyebrows.

"Really? All by yourselves?" The two nodded excitedly. "My, I think that you deserve a treat!" Sitting them down, Bilbo reached into his pocket and pulled out two biscuits. Lowering himself onto one knee, the older hobbit pulled the two fauntlings close, gently bumping heads with them before putting the sweets in their hands and sending them down the lane laughing. Both Kili and Fili were shocked by how dwarvish that gesture had been, but managed to come to their senses soon enough.

"Fili," the slightly taller blonde dwarf said. "And Kili," the dark haired dwarf that was Bilbo's height added. "At your service!" They finished together. The hobbit smiled.

"Bilbo Baggins-Took, at yours and your family's." Kili eyed the bow around his shoulders.

"You shoot. Any good?" Bilbo laughed.

"I like to think so. I see you do, too. Maybe we can give each other pointers later." Kili grinned.

"That would be great!"

"Those kids," Fili started. "They your kin?"

"Sort of." Bilbo motioned them in, leaving it at that. Pointing down the hall where the two princes could hear voices wafting down to the front door, he started talking. "Would you two please go and get Masters Dwalin and Balin and bring them into the dining room? I expect the others to be arriving soon." Pushing the gently down the hall the hobbit smiled. "In fact, our next guests should be arriving right about…. now." Both dwarves started but walked down the hall to find their companions. They were met with the sight of a slightly shell-shocked Balin staring disbelievingly at a frantically nodding Dwalin.

"Boys," Balin said. "Does your uncle know exactly what he's getting us into by asking this hobbit to join us on our journey?" The princes didn't reply.

20 minutes later, 12 dwarves and 1 wizard listened to a hobbit that slightly scared the older dwarrow but who the younger ones thought was awesome, explain that before he joins their adventure, he wants to know what exactly he is getting himself into. Before Balin could produce his contract, two loud, solid knocks rang through the house. As if one, the dwarves and wizard turned to look at the door.

"He's here." Gandalf stated. Bilbo snorted.

"Well, aren't you all a dramatic bunch." Walking to the door, he swung it open, paying no attention to the flabbergasted dwarves that were staring at him.

Thorin Oakenshield hated getting lost. Not only did he manage to stray off of the path, not once but twice, it had started pouring half an hour before, leaving him soaked through and chilled to the bone. He finally reached his destination, only for the door to be answered by someone he was certain couldn't be their burglar for this creature standing in front of him was the most handsome man he had ever seen. He was tall by dwarven standards, roughly Kili's height. He had curly golden brown hair with braids weaved into it that was tied back at the nape of his neck. The most beautiful glowing emerald eyes that danced with humor and mischief. His face was chiseled yet kind and he had his hands placed one his hips in the most adorable way. Thorin, being Thorin, said the first thing that came to his mind, which was both stupid and untrue.

"You look more like a grocer than a burglar."

"And you are rather rude for a king." They both ignored the snort of laughter from the other room. "Didn't anyone try and teach you politics, or at the very least manners?" A little taken aback, Thorin bowed his head.

"Thorin Oakenshield, King of Durin's folk."

"Bilbo Baggins-Took, master of Bag-End." He gave an over exaggerated bow, making the king's cheeks color slightly in anger.

"Yes, well. Axe or sword? What is your weapon of choice?" Bilbo smirked.  
"I have some skill at conkers, if you must know. Though I hardly see how that is relevant." Thorin felt his heart sink. The entirety of their quest relied on this, admittedly handsome, useless hobbit? They were doomed.

The dwarf king pushed past the hobbit and into the dining room where his Company were all staring at their host with wide eyes. Unperturbed, Thorin took the seat at the head of the table, ignoring Balin's frantically shaking head.

"We will receive no aid from any of the seven kingdoms, not even my own kin. Dain says that this is our quest and ours alone." The dwarves mumbled in disappointment.

"This journey would be difficult with an army's help. We are but 13 men." Balin said thoughtfully, expression downcast.

"We can do it. While we lack in numbers, we make up for in courage, strength and bravery to do what no other dwarrow would ever think of doing and reclaim our home." Thorin pulled out a map before handing it to the wizard. Gandalf began reading.

"Far to the East, over ranges and rivers, beyond woodlands and wastelands, lies a single solitary peak."

"The Lonely Mountain." Ori whispered.

"Aye. Oin has read the portents, and the portents say it is time." Oin nodded.

"Ravens have been seen flying back to the mountain as it was foretold: When the birds of old return to Erebor, the reign of the beast will end." Bofur sighed.

"A reference to Smaug the Terrible, chiefest and greatest calamity of our age. Airborne fire-breather, teeth like razors, claws like meat hooks, extremely fond of precious metals. A dragon." Ori puffed out his chest.

"I'm not afraid! I'm up for it. I'll give him a taste of the Dwarvish iron right up his jacksy."

"Sit down, brother!"

"You all are fools." All eyes turned to the hobbit who was leaning against the door frame, fiddling with a knife. "You can't just charge into a dragon's den. What if that beast is still alive, how are you going to kill it? A dragon would never willingly give up it's hoard. You either go in with a plan or die." Thorin frowned, barely keeping his anger in check.

"And what do you know of the world? You can't even use weapons!" Faster than he could blink, a knife was embedded in the wall right above his ear, knicking it just enough to make it bleed. Thorin looked up at Bilbo in shock, and forced himself not to back up at the angry glare from the now attentive hobbit.

"I never said that I was unskilled in weaponry, only that I was good at conkers. Ask Master Dwalin if you don't believe me. You don't know me Thorin Oakenshield, and right now I have no desire to know you. Do not think that I know not of the dangers in the world." Standing up, Thorin snarled, ignoring the voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like Balin that was telling him to just sit down and shut up.

"It's true though, isn't it? You live a sheltered life here in your comfy hobbit hole. You do not know what it is like to watch your people die, hear their pained screams and being unable to do anything." Out of the corner of his eye, Thorin saw Gandalf glare at him before letting his head fall into his hands. The king was unprepared for what happened next.

"You know nothing." Bilbo's voice was like the calm before a storm. He started pulling off his tunic. "I know what it's like to watch my people die. To hear their screams for help and being unable to do anything. I know what it's like to watch your family die." Thorin had to hold in a gasp when he saw the hobbit's naked torso. He was well muscled and had strange tattoos on his arms, but that was not what made him stumble back. Starting just under his chest and ending at his hip was a long thick scar caused by a blade that he knew far too well. Orc blades. Several smaller scars littered his body but that one was the worst, and could've been fatal if not treated correctly. The hobbit was lucky he regained full use of his body after an injury like that. Thorin was aware of being pulled down to his chair but not knowing who had done it. He could only watch as Bilbo pulled his shirt back on, his muscles tightening.

Bilbo sighed. He hadn't wanted to show them, their was just something about Thorin Oakenshield that ticked him off. Turning away from him and looking at the other dwarves, the hobbit clasped his hands behind his back, hoping no one had noticed their slight trembling. "I am sorry. I shouldn't have done that. Dinner is in the kitchen, please help yourselves. If you don't mind I must be excused." Without waiting on an answer Bilbo practically ran from the room, closing the door behind him. Once in the hall, he braced his head against the wall, he breathed in deeply, trying not to cry as memories overwhelmed him.

"Run, Bilbo go, NOW!"

"Keep the children safe we'll be right behind you…"

"Ma, NOOOO!"

Shuddering, Bilbo turned and flew up the stairs, returning seconds later with a wooden case. He needed somewhere he could think. And play.

The dwarves sat frozen when the hobbit had ran from the room. Fili had drawn Kili closer to him, as had Dori to Ori. They stayed like that for several minutes until they heard the front door slam and suddenly Gandalf and Balin both whirled around to glare at Thorin.

"The one time someone other than kin treats us like equals, you have to go and bring up bad memories. I could have sworn I taught you manners at least!" Thorin ducked his head.

"I'm sorry, Balin. How was I to know that that little thing had memories that bad? I will apologize to him when he returns." The Wizard shook his head.

"He won't return until dawn, at least. You are very lucky that Bilbo is a good, kind lad, Thorin Oakenshield, for if he had desired he could have killed us all, including me, before any of us could even move." The King looked back at the wall, where the knife was hanging stuck into the hard stone. Thorin believed the old man. Fili and Kili shared a look, before they both nodded.

"We shall go and find him!" Gandalf snorted.

"While I'm sure that he would appreciate the thought, hobbit's can remain unseen by most if they wished, and I swear that Bilbo is the sneakiest of them all. I thank the elves. He always was light on his feet, but when he returned, he was truly terrifying. I'm still convinced that he can turn invisible, yet neither him nor his mother would ever tell me; of all of Bilbo's secrets I know, I am not allowed into that one. It's maddening, and they knew that so they turned it into a game. Anyway, that's why he would be the perfect burglar, for he is quick and has a sharp mind that I would bet on against Smaug himself." Elves, invisibility, terrifying? Maybe he had judged their hobbit too quickly. Despite Gandalf's words, his boys just smiled brighter.

"Ah, but he likes us. He told us that we remind him of the children of Hobbiton, and that he's never managed to completely hide from them after he taught them where to look. Since the rain has let up, we are leaving. Nobody better follow us or Kili might shoot you thinking that you are an orc. Go and eat, I would hate our host's perfectly prepared dinner to go to waste - just make sure to save some for us three." And with that the youngest of the Durins swept out of the room, only stopping to slip on their cloaks, letting the front door slam behind them. The others left the room and into the kitchen, whooping in delight at the amount of food, until only Gandalf Balin and Thorin remained in the dining room.

"I really messed up, didn't I Balin?"

"That you did. I'd be surprised if Master Bilbo will come with us at all." Gandalf chuckled.

"Oh, he will come. Even if he couldn't stand any of us, he would come, because he is an honorable hobbit, and his mother told him never to turn down an adventure." A thought came into the King's head.

"Gandalf, what did you mean about the burglar staying with elves?"

"Oh no Thorin. You will not be getting any of Bilbo's secrets out of me. He has recently been mad at me and I am not in the mood to repeat that event any time soon." The wizard shook his head. "Worse than his mother, he is." Standing up, Gandalf turned to the kitchen before swinging back around and handing something to Thorin. A key.

"Where did you get this?"

"Your father gave it to me when I last spoke to him. Told me to give it to you and that it belongs to the mountain. Since there is a key, there means that there is a door that goes with it." Thorin sucked in a breath

"There's another way in." Gandalf sniffed.

"Yes, indeed. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get a drink before your kin finds it. There is no better beverage than hobbit ale." The wizard sighed happily before sweeping out of the room.

"Thorin, do you think that Fili and Kili will find him?"  
"For our sakes, Balin, I hope they do."


	3. Chapter 2: I'm Going on an Adventure!

I own nothing that you recognize from the hobbit/lotr books

* * *

Chapter Two: I'm going on an Adventure!

"Common"

 _"Sindarin"_

 **"Khuzdul"**

 _ **"Black Speech"**_

As it turns out, Bilbo was not that hard to find. As soon as they stepped out of the smial, Fili and Kili were met with a haunting melody. Shrugging at each other, they followed the music to the base of a tree. Looking up, they saw Bilbo sitting on a branch about half way up, leaning against the trunk playing a fiddle. Before either brother could do anything, the hobbit closed his eyes and began to sing.

"Would you know my name

If I saw you in heaven?

Would it be the same

If I saw you in heaven?

I must be strong

And carry on,

'Cause I know I don't belong

Here in heaven.

Would you hold my hand

If I saw you in heaven?

Would you help me stand

If I saw you in heaven?

I'll find my way

Through night and day,

'Cause I know I just can't stay

Here in heaven.

Time can bring you down,

Time can bend your knees.

Time can break your heart,

Have you begging please, begging please.

Beyond the door,

There's peace I'm sure,

And I know there'll be no more

Tears in heaven.

Would you know my name

If I saw you in heaven?

Would it be the same

If I saw you in heaven?

I must be strong

And carry on,

'Cause I know I don't belong

Here in heaven." Both Fili and Kili realized that they had been holding their breaths while they listened to the mournful song that came down from the branches. Fili discreetly wiped at his eyes before calling up the tree.

"Master Baggins?"

"Bilbo, please. Master Baggins makes me feel old." Kili smiled.

"Then call us Fili and Kili. Are you alright, Bilbo?" He sighed.

"I'll live, if that's what you mean. Your uncle just brought up some memories I'd rather not remember." The hobbit swung down from the tree landing in front of the princes. "What can I help you with?"

"Nothing. We were just looking for you."

"You didn't have to do that, I would've been fine. But since you're here, pray tell me how your uncle feels about pranks." Kili shook his head.

"He's none too fond of them. He used to be a huge prankster before Smaug came, but now he's all serious and always frowning." Bilbo smirked.

"Well, then I think that it's time he lightens up. Wanna help?" Fili and Kili shared identical looks of shock before turning back to their host with mile wide smiles on their faces.

"We would love to!" Wrapping his fiddle case around his back, Bilbo threw his arms around the young dwarfs shoulders.

"Boys, I think that this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." Neither prince commented on how the hobbits smile didn't quite reach his eyes. They were too relieved that he wasn't mad at them to realize that maybe their burglar was more broken than he let on.

Thorin may have went to bed with troubled thoughts, but he was sure that he had gone to sleep in a bed and not outside. Opening his eyes, he lay shocked when he realized that he was lying on the grass on top of the hobbits house completely starkers! Said hobbit was sitting on the bench in front of his house smoking a pipe. The king could just see the sun jutting over the horizon.

"Well, good morning Thorin Oakenshield. I guess you could call us even now. I would be more careful of what you say next time for my retaliation will be much more embarrassing than this. Breakfast will be served outside in 15 minutes, so unless you want them to see you like this, I would suggest sneaking inside while I wake the others." Thorin stared after the hobbit as he walked into the house. Mahal, this man would be the death of him.

Bilbo just closed the door before collapsing on the floor in a fit of laughter. Fili and Kili sat at the table, mirth sparkling in their eyes.

"What did he say?" "What did his face look like?" "Does he know that we were a part of it?"

"Nothing, gobsmacked and no." Bilbo replied, wiping tears from his eyes. "Now if you would be so kind as to wake the others while I finish packing my bag?" The boys ran off down the hall, going into bedrooms and pulling grumpy dwarves from their warm beds. Once Bilbo had placed breakfast on the table, he walked into his room and began packing clothes along with several of his parents things into his mother's old traveling bag that would hang around his shoulders. He managed to fit several outfits, cloaks and blankets into the clothes department. Grabbing his fiddle on his way out, he stopped by his weapons room.

Deciding what to bring from there was not a very hard task. Most of his knives could fit into his belt, side of his bag and several hidden pockets sewn into his clothes. The bow and arrows were the next easiest thing, given the fact that the bows were able to fold into themselves several times until they were only a several inches long, and the quivers were able to loop together to save space. Still he had two bows and 6 quivers left that he thought might interest Kili. The swords were next, sadly he was only able to bring four, two strapped to his hips, two more crossed his back underneath his bow. Two small axes laid under his swords, only to be used when the others were not available. Sliding a few weapons of his own making into his belt, Bilbo gathered up the rest of his stock, bringing them into the now spotless dining room. Shaking his head at how oddly considerate (most) dwarves seemed to be, he laid the left over weapons on the table, picking out some of the smaller swords and placing them on a chair, and called in his guests. Bilbo couldn't help but chuckle at the king, who seemed to be trying to avoid his eyes, a deep blush visible even under his beard.

"These are the weapons that I could not fit on my person. You are more than welcome to carry them on yours. If anyone needs me or has any questions, I will be saddling my horse and packing the rest of my bags." He started to leave the room before turning back. "Since I will not be back here for some time, don't feel bad about clearing out any food that I have left for our journey."

"You managed fit the majority of those weapons on you but only have 7 visible?! How is that possible?" This hobbit just seemed to keep confusing Dwalin. Balin was worried about his brother's heart pressure.

"Where's the fun in telling you? Now, if you'll excuse me," nodding his head at his guests, Bilbo walked out of the room whistling.

It's no wonder Thorin never stood a chance.

An hour later, the group was leaving Bag End. Thorin watched as their burglar locked his house, his hand resting against the wood, the other playing with a gold chain around his neck. Sighing, Bilbo turned away and jumped onto his midnight black, so dark almost blue, horse, Kex, setting the pace for the rest of them. As soon as they reached the town, they were surrounded by a large group of children. Nobody noticed the way Dwalin flinched and laid a hand on his axe except Balin.

Laughing, Bilbo allowed them to pull his off of his horse and stumbled back when several of the younger ones jumped into his arms.

"Woah, guys. I promise that I will come back, okay?" Inside, Bilbo winced. He shouldn't make such a promise, but he would do his best to keep it.

"Do you have to leave, Bilbo?"

"Yeah, can't you stay?"

"I'm sorry guys. I have to go, I signed a contract and I always honor my word. Besides, when will I ever get a chance to go on an adventure this amazing?" The fauntling looked up at him with big eyes full of tears.

"You'll be like the hobbit in your stories!" Bilbo chuckled.

"Why, yes I suppose I will be. Now have any if you seen Marco, Samville, and Drogo?" Two lasses nodded and ran off, returning a few minutes later with 3 older boys. Bilbo gently pulled off the small bodies that were attached to him, setting them onto their feet. Returning to his horse, the older hobbit pulled off a tightly wrapped bundle.

"As we all know, you three will be turning 33 in just a few months. I am saddened to say that I do not know if I will be able to make your party. But ever since you begged me to make you a sword all those years ago, I've been waiting to give you these." Unwrapping the bundle, the dwarfs who could see the gift gasped while the others looked on confused. Bilbo handed each almost adult a gleaming sword. The carvings were amazing, Drogo's having a magnificent dragon starting at the hilt of his sword and curving to the tip of the blade. Marco's was covered in eagles, while Samville's was covered in leaves that wrapped around the blade like vines. After sliding their swords into scabbards on their hips, the three boys launched themselves at Bilbo, all of them wrapping their arms around his neck. Holding them for a few seconds, Bilbo could imagine that he was a faunt again, seeing his cousins for the first time. But then the illusion was broken by a cough coming from the dwarves. Pulling back, the older hobbit bumped his forehead against there's, a habit he had picked up from his mother all those years ago. He smiled down at them.

"Now, I need you guys to hold down the fort for me, okay?" At their nods he gave them one last hug before pushing them gently away from them. "Make sure everyone continues their training like we were doing it before - no real swords, only wooden until I return. Don't let Bramble beat you all the time and watch the little ones, don't let them slack off. I will be back, and then it will be like I never left, you'll see. Until then, I have hidden several large storybooks in my backyard. Find them and you'll see that they are full of new tales, ones that should last you until I get back and can make up more." That sent the little ones off, running down the lane, the teens following at a more sedate pace, all of them throwing cries of 'be safe' and to 'hurry back' over their shoulders. Bilbo watched them go with a smile on his face before jumping back onto his horse and they all once again began riding.

Thorin found himself at the front of the group with the hobbit, and, much to Bilbo's disappointment, he seemed to have gotten over his embarrassment.

"That was a rather odd exchange, very dwarvish." He remarked.

"Yes, well, those three have been bugging me for swords every since they could walk. They always were fascinated by my weapons. What else was so very dwarf about it?"

"The way you touched your head to theirs." Kili piped up from Bilbo's left. "It's how dwarves greet those they consider close kin."

"You did it with those other kids," Fili remembered. "The ones that led us to your house."

"I guess I did. My mother always used to do it." Gandalf appeared on Thorin's right.

"It is quite possible that dear Belladonna did pick that up from dwarves. She was quite the adventurer." Fili and Kili's eyes sparkled.

"Tell us about your family, Bilbo." He chuckled.

"There isn't really much to the Baggins side. It's a great group of people and I love most of them dearly, but they never really do anything. The most dangerous thing that happened to them was my Da marrying Ma. The Tooks, on the other hand, couldn't be more different." He bowed his head. "We are the adventurers of the Shire, and the ones who make up most of the bounders. All hobbit children are wild, but Tooks never seem to grow up. My mother used to be the most well traveled of hobbits, reaching Rivendell, but I think I have her beat by a good couple miles." Gandalf chuckled.

"I always have enjoyed the Company of Tooks, most entertaining of people. Bullroarer Took, wasn't he a sight to behold." Bilbo waved his finger at the wizard.

"Oh, no you don't. You're not going to tell them that story!"

"I most certainly will. Last night Fili and Kili told you stories, now I believe that we must return the favor. Bullroarer Took was so large that he could ride a horse! In the Battle of Green Fields, he charged the goblin ranks. He swung his club so hard it knocked the Goblin King's head clean off, and it sailed a hundred yards through the air and went down a rabbit hole. And thus the battle was won, and the game of golf invented at the same time."

"You always were one to exaggerate, Gandalf. It was not a club that killed the Goblin king, it was a sword, forged by Bullroarer himself. And the whole reason he went charging into the ranks in the first place was because the best friend, a Gamgee, had slapped his horses behind on the basis of a bet that despite of their size, they would startle just as easily as a pony." The wizard looked down at the hobbit.

"Why was I never told this? It seems much more entertaining!" The younger man chuckled, but the wizard could see the hint of fear in his eyes; he had let something slip.

"Well, us hobbits do have to keep some things within our race. Whether it be our history or our language, we keep secrets just as much as the next man." Gandalf hadn't known about a secret language, how had they manage to keep even knowledge of its existence secret from him with all the time that he spent in the Shire? The Company was trying their hardest to not laugh at the two men's exchanges, but it was a losing battle and when Ori, Fili, and Kili started laughing, it set the rest of them off. Smirking at each other, Bilbo and Gandalf regaled the group with stories of Bilbo's family history, constantly interrupting each other, and 'arguing'. That night, as Bilbo sat by the fire whittling, Ori game up to him and asked such an innocent question that it brought tears to his eyes.

"Bilbo, what were your parents like?" Taking a deep breath, he patted the spot on the log next to him. Ori, Fili, and Kili gathered around, and not one of the four noticed that the others were listening to the tale.

"My parents were great people. For all they loved each other, there couldn't be a pair of more different hobbits. My ma, Belladonna, was a Took, a born adventurer. She's the one that started my training with weapons. I still think that she was better at them than I could ever hope to be. My da, Bungo, on the other hand, would rather stay home and read books by the fire. He always could tell the most amazing stories, a skill I am glad to have inherited from him; it makes dealing with the fauntlings so much easier. They were unlikely duo, that many, including the Thain, my grandfather thought wouldn't last past summer. To prove him wrong, Da built Ma Bag End. It took him 5 years to make but he finally got the permission to marry my mother. They were happy in marriage and the ordinary day-to-day life, but they quarreled constantly. The biggest argument they had, or so I've been told, was about me. My mother wanted me to have both of their last names, while Da just wanted me to be a Baggins. I'm told that I was nameless for weeks before my dad finally gave in. Ma won most arguments, but da got a fair share of wins, too. I think that I had a pretty good life.

"But then the Fell Winter came." Bilbo shuddered out a breath. The young dwarfs, sensing something bad was going to happen, instinctively leaned into the hobbit, who put his arms around them. "At first, it hadn't seemed bad. Ma found out that she was with child. The look on my Da's face when she told him was priceless. They were having twins, which are rare in itself in the Shire. Things seemed good, until they weren't. One morning we awoke to find that the Brandybuck river had completely frozen over. The slightly heavy snow turned to full blown blizzards, many died of hypothermia, and then the howls started. At first they were only at night, but later we would be lucky to go two hours without hearing them. Food was scarce nowadays and Ma decided that we would have to go and stay with my cousins until the winter passed. The occupants of Hobbiton gathered with us and we started the week long trip to grandfather's house. We never made it; we were ambushed, by orcs and wargs, with only one thought in their heads: kill.

"Ma and I were able to get the children out, we hid them in a cave, lit a fire, and barricaded the entrance. She wanted me to stay with them and guard but I didn't listen to her. Once she had ran off, I doubled back, and was met with a massacre. Tens of hundreds of hobbits laid on the now red snow, the only ones still standing were my mother, father, and some of the farmers. I didn't hesitate jumping into the battle, going wherever someone needed help, constantly moving. I stayed with Ma the most, taking blows that would've killed her but only scratched me. I remember a scream, turning around, and seeing a white warg tackling my da, instantly killing him. I saw an equally white orc behind it, staring over at the carnage as if pleased. My ma charged him, and got slashed across the chest. By that time I had killed the other orcs, and turned toward the last one. I remember wanting nothing more than to run to my mother but knew that he would kill me in an instant if I did. So I attacked. He would yell insults at me in black speech, some so foul that I wouldn't dare repeat even now. I had managed to land several blows but so had he; we were both really bloody. I slipped in the snow and my sword flew out of my hands. The orc had stood over me and smiled. Smiled! I'd never wanted to kill someone more than I had then. But before I could do anything, he lifted the sword that served as his left arm, and slashed it across my chest, giving me this scar. I remember pain, then darkness, then nothing. A week later I woke up in a hospital. A ranger had found the children, who led him to me and brought me to my grandfather. But my parents were dead. My younger siblings, dead. I had wanted to die, too. But then I realized that they wouldn't want me to become a hermit. They would want me to live." By the end of Bilbo's tale, the camp was completely silent. Thorin seemed to be shaking with rage.

"This Orc? Was his left arm missing?" At Bilbo's nod he stalked off away from the group as a loud piercing howl broke the silence.

"What did I do?" Balin sighed.

"It seems that you and Thorin seem to have more reason than most to hate orcs." Bilbo listened as the grandfatherly old dwarf spinned a tale of death and triumph, mindful to keep his voice lowered for it seems that Fili, Kili, and Ori had fallen asleep against the hobbit. That night, as Bilbo struggled to find a comfortable position that wouldn't wake the dwarves sleeping on him, thousands of things raced through his head.

Maybe, he thought, that he had judged Thorin Oakenshield too fast as well.


	4. Chapter 3: Tom, Bert, and Bill

Disclaimer: I do not own the Hobbit/Lord of the Ring books, they (sadly) belong to J. R. R. Tolkien

* * *

Chapter Three: Tom, Bert and Bill

"Common"

 _"Sindarin"_

 **"Khuzdul"**

 _ **"Black Speech"**_

For several days they rode, singing songs and joking around as they went. On the fifth night of their journey, they stopped to make camp at a run down house that used to belong to a farmer and his family. The place unsettled Gandalf, who stalked off muttering about having enough of dwarves for one day. Thorin assigned Fili and Kili to watch the ponies, while the others helped Bombur prepare dinner. The dwarves start to eat.

"He's been a long time."

"Who?" Bofur said through a mouthful.

"Gandalf."

"He's a wizard! He does as he chooses. Here, Bilbo, do us a favor: take this to the lads." He walked out balancing three bowls in his hands, completely unaware of the eyes that followed his backside. Reaching the boys, the hobbit sighed, noticing that they were looking around nervously.

"What's the matter?"

"We're supposed to be looking out for the ponies." Kili said, wringing his hands nervously.

"Only we've encountered a slight problem. We had sixteen. Now there's thirteen."

"Daisy, Kex and Bungo are missing." Bilbo growled.

"Nobody steals my pony. This is not going to end well for whoever took them. Which one of you wants to tell Thorin?" The two dwarves shared a panicked look.

"Uhh, no." Fili said. "Let's not worry him. As our official burglar, we thought you might like to look into it." Bilbo snorted.

"Which really means that you are too scared to tell your uncle and want me to save you guys." Fili and Kili both frantically nodded their heads, their eyes pleading. "Fine, I'll help you. Something big uprooted these trees."

"That was our thinking." Kili said.

"Something very big, and possibly quite dangerous. You guys should just let me go alone." They ignored him. Fili pointed into the trees

"Hey! There's a light. Over here! Stay down." Sighing, Bilbo placed the bowls on a rock and the three ran into the forest, hiding behind a log when they realized that the light was a fire. Harsh laughter could be heard even from their hiding spot.

"Trolls." Bilbo whispered. Fili and Kili ran towards the fire; the hobbit following them. Bilbo hides behind a tree and sees a massive mountain troll walking toward the fire, carrying a pony under his left arm.

"He's got Minty! They're going to eat them, we have to do something." Kili said. The dwarves made to leap up and over the log when they were pulled back by strong arms and pushed to the ground.

"No, no, no..." Bilbo said. They groaned.

"It's perfectly safe! We'll be right behind you." He shook his head.

"You two are staying here. In fact, I'm not in the mood to take on three trolls tonight without more weapons that just my sword." Bilbo did actually have more weapons on him than that, but they didn't need to know that. "Fili run back and tell the others where we have gone. Kili, you can cover me with your bow. No matter what, do not come into the glade." Kili nodded as his brother took off running out of the forest.

"If you run into trouble, hoot twice like a barn owl, once like a brown owl." But the hobbit doesn't hear him, nor does he see the concerned look that is thrown at his retreating back. He is too focused on the trolls. The one that brought the ponies has a blue hat on, another has on a dirty vest and the last one seems to be the cook and is wearing an apron.

"Mutton yesterday, mutton today, and blimey, if it don't like like mutton again tomorrow." The cook griped, throwing some greens into the pot. Blue hat slapped him on the back of his head.

"Quit yer' griping. These ain't sheep. These are West Nags" Red vest scowled.

"I don't like horse, Tom. I never have. Not enough fat on them."

"Well, it's better than the little old farmer. All skin and bone, he was. I'm still picking bits of him out of me teeth." The first troll said. Red vest sneezed into the pot they have boiling over a fire.

"Well, that's lovely, it is, a floater. Good job, Bill. "

"It might improve the flavor!" Tom said. Bill stuck his fingers into his nose.

"Ah! There's more where that came from." All the while, Bilbo had creeped along behind them, and had reached the gate that the horses were in. He begins to untie them, but doesn't get very far before he has to duck behind a bush, hiding from a troll that had looked his way.

"I hope you're going to gut these nags. But I like the stinky parts." Bill sighed happily. Bert hits William with his ladle, and William squeals in pain.

"I told you to sit down!" Bilbo turned back to the rope, but failed to notice the hand that came swiping at him, knocking him against a tree.

"Hey look what I-" The hobbit bit the hand holding him, which sent him tumbling down, his ribs burning; he thinks that he might have cracked one. "The little blighter bit me! Help me catch him!" Their prize was no longer there, him having climbed into a tree moments before. Bilbo just hoped that Kili stayed hidden. Which means, of course he didn't.

The moment Kili had seen their burglar getting smashed into the tree, he had charged into the clearing, several other dwarves following behind, attacking the foul beasts. With the trolls sufficiently distracted, Bilbo swung down from the tree, ignoring the pain in his ribs, and freed the ponies from their cage. They ran off into the forest and he started to think that maybe this hadn't been the best idea, and that was before a strangled cry caused him to whip around with his sword drawn. What he saw made his heart drop into his stomach. Two trolls, Bert and Tom, had Kili by the arms and legs, holding him eagle spread like in the air. Despite only knowing the lad for a little over a month, he had grown very fond of him, along with Fili and Ori.

"KILI!" Bilbo screamed. Luckily, several other dwarfs, including Fili and Thorin had yelled at the same time as he, effectively drowning out his voice and keeping him hidden.

"Lay down your arms, or we'll rip his off." Tom said. Most of the dwarfs immediately dropped their weapons, the others just seconds behind. 2 minutes later, all of the dwarfs were in sacks save four, who were slow roasting over the fire. Bilbo had to come up with an idea, and quick.

"Why bother cooking them? Let's just sit on them and squash them into jelly." Bill whined,

"They should be sautéed and grilled with a sprinkle of sage." Contented sighs filled the glade.

"Ooh, that does sound quite nice, Bert." Tom whacked him on the back of his head, again.

"Never mind the seasoning; we ain't got all night! Dawn ain't far away, so let's get a move on. I don't fancy being turned to stone." Sheathing his sword, Bilbo started whistling and walked into the clearing as if he hadn't a care in the world. The dwarfs looked at him like he was crazy, though there was a hint of fear for him in their eyes. The trolls just looked confused.

"Who's that?" Bert asked. They other two shrugged.

"I don't know can we eat him, too?" Bilbo forced out a laugh.

"You know, if you want to eat me, you'd have to catch me first. But if you'd rather me show you where you could find more food than you could possibly ever eat, then follow me!" Bilbo stood waiting patiently as the trolls gathered in a circle, talking over his offer as if he couldn't hear every word that they were saying.

"What do you think, Bert?"

"I don't know. Should we follow him, Tom?"

"We should. What if he is telling the truth? As soon as we find this hoard of food, we could just eat him."

"Nice thinking, Tom. And if he's lyin', we can eat him anyway. I'm going, it's not as if the dwarfs can go anywhere."

"Me too."

"I'm coming." The three turned back to the hobbit, who was staring at them innocently.

"Alright, ferret. Show us your glorious piles of food." Sending one last glance over his shoulder at the dwarves, Bilbo smiled at the giant humanoids and beckoned for them to follow him.

"It won't be so long until we get there. Just over this next hill, in fact." That was the last thing the dwarves heard before they could no longer see the hobbit. Thorin wiggled around in his bag until one hand came free and reached out for the knife that Bilbo had thrown to him while the trolls had been busy talking. Cutting himself free, the dwarves made quick work of freeing the others from the sacks. Getting the ones down from the spit, however, proved to be much harder, and took several minutes to set them on their feet without burning them. Gathering up their weapons, the dwarves turned to the direction that Bilbo had led the trolls off in, only to find their way blocked by Gandalf.

"There are only 13 of you; where is our hobbit." Kili wiped at his nose, not at all ashamed of the tears that could be seen pooling in his eyes; he was only 5 years past his majority after all.

"Bilbo saved us from being eaten by drawing the trolls off somewhere that way and giving one of his knifes to Uncle. But now the sun will be coming up soon and the trolls will need to get back to wherever they spend the day, which means that they are going to kill him!" Gandalf chuckled.

"Do not worry, youngling. I have seen Bilbo take out more attackers than that with only a knife."

"Were those attackers over 10 feet tall with skin that probably can't be pierced by just a knife?" Thorin's voice was calm, but they could all hear a line of panic laced into it. Gandalf frowned at the king's question.

"Well, no. I suppose it would be better to find them now." And off they went, none saying anything as they were all to worried about the hobbit.

Bilbo was doing perfectly fine when they finally found him in a valley a few miles away. He had already taken down one troll and was fighting the others. Gandalf held Fili and Kili back from rushing to aid him.

"Do not ever rush into a fight between Bilbo and his foes without him knowing you would be there. He plans everything out in his head beforehand - you joining the fight would only hinder him, as instead of focusing solely on taking down his opponents, he would protect you, even pushing you out of harm's way and taking the injury himself whenever he can." So the dwarves watched and saw that the wizard's words were true. Mesmerised by the grace and agility of the hobbit, they could do little more than stare as he raced towards a troll, ran up him and backflipped off, landing on the head of the other, before plunging his sword into it's skull. They could see that the sun was almost over the hill, yet Bilbo never stopped moving, weaving over the roots that caused the remaining troll to stumble, until finally, the sun peaked over and the trolls, both dead and alive, immediately were turned to stone.

Chest heaving, Bilbo turned away from the defeated trolls, only to wince and grab his ribs, falling to his knees. Without waiting to see if it was okay, Fili and Kili ran down towards him, the others following closely behind. The hobbit nodded at them.

"You guys are late. It took you a lot longer to free yourselves than I originally imagined. I hadn't expected you to find me so soon though." The Company laughed, but Bilbo hissed in pain, causing Oin to kneel beside him, gently pressing his hands to his chest, checking for injuries.

"You're very lucky, nothing seems to be broken, only bruised. Once we get back to the camp I'll bind them for you and you should be good in a couple of days." Nodding his thanks, Bilbo lowered himself to a more comfortable position.

"He'll be fine, then?" Kili asked. At Oin's nod, he reached down and punched Bilbo's arm, startling them all. "What kind of half-brained plan was that, just leaving us while you went off with three MOUNTAIN TROLLS?" Wincing, Bilbo pulled Kili down next to him, throwing his arm over his shoulder.

"Well, alright then. I guess next time I'll just allow you guys to become dinner, how's that sound?" Kili nodded into his shoulder, leaning into the hobbit's embrace with his eyes closed. He was exhausted. While the other dwarves watched as Fili, Kili, Ori, and Bilbo pretended to argue, Thorin turned to Gandalf. The wizard took notice of how the king's body seemed to have relaxed when they saw that Bilbo was alright.

"Where did you go to, if I may ask?"

"To look ahead." The wizard replied.

"What brought you back?"

"Looking behind. Nasty business. Still, you are all in one piece." Thorin had a ghost of a smile across his face.

"Yes, all thanks to your burglar. It seems that there is more to him than meets the eye. I wonder what other things he has up his sleeve."

"Indeed, Thorin." Gandalf smiled. "You haven't even gotten to know Master Baggins." They turned when they heard a chuckle from beside them. Bilbo, with the help of Fili and Kili, was standing next to them.

"Yes, well, if you two are done talking about me, would it be possible to return to camp now? My chest is aching and my belly is empty; I would not object to a warm meal right about now." Blushing, Thorin nodded, and pulled out the knife Bilbo had thrown at him.

"Your dagger, Master Baggins." The hobbit stared so intently at the king that he had to resist the urge to shift his weight. Finally the man nodded.

"It's Bilbo, Master Oakenshield. As for my dagger, keep it. I have plenty more where that came from and who knows? It might one day save your life." With that, Bilbo, Kili and Fili started the trek back to their campsite leaving a stunned Thorin and an amused Balin behind. Tucking the knife into his sleeve, Thorin looked over at the other man, who was watching him with a knowing look in his eyes.

"What?" Balin just shook his head laughing.

"If I have to spell it out for you than there is no hope for you two." He walked down the trail towards the others, leaving Thorin behind staring after him. It was official. He'd only known him for a month and already he was completely head over heels for Bilbo Baggins-Took.

* * *

So I just now figured out how to add that line thingy and I am honestly so proud of myself! :) Now I have to go back and edit everything on all of my stories. *sigh*


	5. Chapter 4: Raised by Elves?

So sadly, I still do not own the wonderful world of Middle Earth, and I am still just as broke as I was yesterday.

* * *

Chapter Four: Raised by Elves?

Once Bilbo had been patched up and fed, they remembered that trolls can't travel in the sunlight; there must be a cave nearby. So they set out in search for their horde.

"What's that stench?!" Nori plugged his nose.

"It's a troll horde. Be careful what you touch." Gandalf said as he walked into the entrance of the cave.

"Seems a shame just to leave it lying around. Anyone could take it." Bofur said while kicking at a pile of coins. Gloin nodded.

"Agreed. Nori, get a shovel." Thorin walks deeper into the cave, careful not to stare at the hobbit as he passed him and his nephews who were watching the others bury gold with amused smiles. The king pulls out two dusty swords, handing one to Gandalf and keeping the other one.

"These swords were not made by any troll."

"Nor were they made by any smith among men." Gandalf replied, drawing the sword out of its sheath a few inches. "These were forged in Gondolin by the High Elves of the First Age." With the realization that they were holding Elven swords, Thorin starts to put his away in disgust. "You could not wish for a finer blade."

"He's right you know. If I'm right, and Adar would be very disappointed in me if I wasn't, those two blades are important to Elven history." Thorin looks at Bilbo shocked, slightly pleased to see that he was staring right at him. "Yours Thorin, is called Orcrist, feared and called Biter by orcs and goblins. The other one is Glamdring, the mate of Orcrist. Referred to as Beater by its foes. Both are mighty swords." Nodding, the new master of Orcrist hung it at his hip, pointedly ignoring Balin's amused smile, instead looking at the part of his Company that was burying treasure.

"We're making a long term deposit." Gloin said. Thorin shook his head.

"Let's get out of this foul place. Come on, let's go. Bofur! Gloin! Nori!" On his way out, Gandalf steps on something metallic. Brushing aside the leaves beneath him with his staff, he finds another sword. Smiling, the wizard exits the cave and heads over to where Bilbo is sitting. He hands the hobbit the sword he just found.

"Bilbo, here. This is about your size." He frowns.

"Well aren't you rude. I can't take this."

"The blade is of Elvish make which means it will glow blue when orcs or goblins are nearby." Gandalf argued. Clicking his tongue, Bilbo nodded. But instead of hanging it on his hip like the wizard had expected, the hobbit pushed himself off of the rock with a groan, and walked over to Ori, who held the sword handed to him like he didn't know what to do with it.

"I have never used a sword in my life." Ori stammered out, Bilbo smiled kindly.

"And I hope you never have to. Remind me next time we stop to start your training with it. Nothing hard, just tricks that should keep you alive. But if the blade ever has to see battle while in your hands remember this: true courage is about knowing not when to take a life, but when to spare one." Ori nodded and slipped the sheath to hang on his belt.

"Something's coming!" Thorin yelled, immensely glad that they had had the foresight to break camp before looking for the troll's den.

"Gandalf-"

"Stay together! Hurry now. Arm yourselves." Ori slowly draws his sword and looks at it. He then follows the others, who have run off into the woods.

"Thieves! Fire! Murder!" Bilbo can't help but laughing at the sight of the of the old man riding a sleigh pulled by rabbits. So this was Radagast the Brown.

"Radagast! Radagast the Brown. What on earth are you doing here?" Gandalf exclaimed.

"I was looking for you, Gandalf. Something's wrong. Something's terribly wrong."

"Yes?" Radagast opens his mouth to speak, but shuts it. He opens his mouth again, but closes it again. He seems to have forgotten what he was going to say.

"Just give me a minute. Oh, I had a thought, and now I've lost it. It was right there, on the tip of my tongue." He curls up his tongue and his eyes widen. "Oh, it's not the thought at all; it's just a little-" he pulls the bug off of him, "-stick insect!" Radagast and Gandalf go off a few paces and speak privately, but Bilbo can hear what they are saying despite their whispering.

"The Greenwood is sick, Gandalf. A darkness has fallen over it. Nothing grows any more, at least nothing good. The air is foul with decay. But worst are the webs." Radagast seems devastated.

"Webs? What do you mean?"

"Spiders, Gandalf. Giant ones. Some kind of spawn of Ungoliant, or I am not a Wizard. I followed their trail. They came from Dol Guldur." Gandalf looks surprised.

"Dol Guldur? But the old fortress is abandoned." The brown wizard shakes his head.

"No, Gandalf, it is not. A dark power dwells there, such as I have never felt before. It is the shadow of an ancient horror. One that can summon the spirits of the dead. I saw him, Gandalf. From out of the darkness, a Necromancer has come."

"A Necromancer. Are you sure?" Radagast hands something to Gandalf that makes him look concerned. "That is not from the world of the living." Bilbo misses the rest of the conversation when Fili tapped him on his shoulder.

"Back in the cave, you talked about an Ada. That's elvish. Who is he?" Bilbo smirked.

"Oh, no one much. Just Lord Elrond. I lived with him and his family for about, um, 11 years." Before anyone in the Company can ask him any questions, a piercing howl cut through the air.

"Please tell me that that is just a wolf," Ori whispers. Bofur shakes his head.

"Wolves? No, that is not a wolf." Suddenly from behind a nearby crag, a Warg appears; it leaps into the midst of the Company , knocking down one of the dwarves. Thorin unsheathes his sword and kills it using Orcrist. Another Warg attacks from the other side; Kili is quick to shoots it with an arrow, bringing it down, but it stands back up, only to be killed by Dwalin.

"Warg-Scouts! Which means an Orc pack is not far behind." Thorin shouts. Gandalf whirls around to face the king.

"Who did you tell about your quest, beyond your kin?"

"No one."

"Who did you tell?!"

"No one, I swear. What in Durin's name is going on?" The Grey wizard sighs.

"You are being hunted." Dwalin raises his axes.

"We have to get out of here." Ori's face falls.

"We can't! We have no ponies; they bolted." Radagast steps forward

"I'll draw them off."

"These are Gundabad Wargs; they will outrun you." Gandalf states, but the other wizard just smirks.

"These are Rhosgobel Rabbits; I'd like to see them try." Bilbo shoulders to the front of the group and kneels by the rabbits, brushing his hands against their heads, before closing his eyes for a few seconds.

"Still, you will find your path completely free of debris or anything that might slow you down, yet the wargs will have to run through the thickest roots." Radagast smiles at him gratefully and Gandalf hums, leaving the dwarfs very confused.

Bilbo and the others watch as Radagast bursts forth from the bushes, startling several wargs.

"Come and get me! Ha ha!" The group watches as the wizard and orcs disappear behind a hill.

"Come on! We must go now!" Gandalf yells." The Company rushes across the rocky plane. In the distance, Radagast is being chased by the Wargs. One of them crashes while trying to catch him. As they run across the plain, Thorin and Bilbo see the Wargs not too far from them, so they pull the others down behind a few rocks.

"Stay together." Gandalf whispers. Thorin looks up.

"Move!" They continue running, Bilbo managing to stay at the front of the group despite his busted ribs. Thorin stops them behind a rock so that they are not seen by the Wargs, but Ori starts to run out of the cover.

"Ori, no!" Bilbo yells, pulling him back.

"Come on! Quick!"

"Where are you leading us, wizard?" Gandalf doesn't answer. As the Warg scouts chase Radagast, one of them stops and scents the air. The dwarves take cover behind an outcropping of rock. The scout and his Warg appear on top of the outcropping, scenting the air. Thorin looks at Kili and nods; readying an arrow, Kili quickly steps out and shoots the Warg. The Warg and the orc on it fall near the dwarves, and the dwarves kill them. The sounds of their fight carry quite far; the other Wargs and Orcs stop chasing Radagast as they hear roars and screams from behind the rocks. The orc that seems to be in charge points to where the dwarves are just visible.

"The Dwarf-scum are over there! After them!" Bilbo pushes the others away from the rock

"Move. Run!" The Company runs through a grassy plain; Wargs begin to surround them from all sides.

"There they are!" Gloin yelps. Gandalf points to the side,

"This way! Quickly!" They run for a while longer, then halt in a clearing as they see Wargs on all sides.

"There's more coming!" Kili screams, notching an arrow.

"Kili! Shoot them!" Thorin commands. Looking around, Gandalf sees a large rock; he runs toward it and disappears.

"We're surrounded!

"Where is Gandalf?"

"He has abandoned us!" Kili begins shooting at the Warg and the Warg-riders, killing some of them. The dwarves gather close to each other near the rock Gandalf disappeared by. As Yazneg and his Warg approach, the others draw their weapons.

"Hold your ground!" Thorin yells. Gandalf pops up from a crack in the rock.

"This way, you fools!"

"Come on, move! Quickly, all of you! Go, go go!" Thorin begins to push them down the crack, thinking that they just might live through this until he hears Fili's anguished cry of Kili. Turning around, Thorin sees his youngest nephew about to be pounced on by a warg.

"Kili! Run!" Thorin watches as the dog jumps. He sees Kili turn towards it in shocked terror; he was too slow to do anything. Kili was going to die.

But suddenly Bilbo was there, flying through the air as he tackles the warg mid-jump, killing it with his sword. He starts to pull the prince towards the passage, when the arrows start flying from the orcs. Using his arm to block an arrow that would've pierced the young dwarfs heart, Bilbo stumbled as he pulled the shaft from his arm, wincing. Finally they reached the crack and the hobbit shoves Kili down the whole before turning towards Thorin.

"Jump in, now!" He cried. The king shook his head.

"You go, I will follow." The hobbit growled.

"Without you there would be no quest to reclaim Erebor, and I intend to make you live to see it through whether you like it or not!" Bilbo turns toward the orcs before spinning back to the dwarf at his side, screaming at him to duck. The hobbit slashes at an orc behind him that had had his axe poised to behead Thorin. Sending an apologetic glance to the dwarf he pushes the king down, another arrow hitting his arm in the process.

Thorin looked up at the opening in shock from where he now laid sprawled on the cold dirt ground.

"BILBO!" He hears the younger ones scream, but can only watch as a large boulder that he could've sworn hadn't been anywhere near the opening, rolled down and blocked the entrance, effectively keeping them safe inside and Bilbo all alone outside. The last things that the dwarves saw was Bilbo dancing around the orcs that surrounded him, slashing and stabbing through them as if they were butter.

"NOOO!" Thorin jumped to his feet pushing against the rock uselessly. Several of the other dwarves joined his efforts but it was in vain, for the stone did not move an inch. Resting his head against the cool material, Thorin blinked back the tears that were forming in his eyes.

"It's no use, Thorin Oakenshield." The dwarves whirled around to see the wizard leaning on his staff his face troubled.

"You're a wizard! Can't you do something about this thing?" He gestured to the boulder. Gandalf laughed.

"Me? Beat Bilbo? You're crazy. He's powerful, Thorin, possibly even more so than I." The dwarves looked at him like he was the crazy one, but the old man just smiled. "If Bilbo doesn't want that rock to move then it won't until he is dead or he allows it to." The room fell silent, the only noises heard were the clashing of swords and the cries of pain coming from above. For several minutes no one said anything, all staring at the boulder that kept them from reaching one of their own.

Suddenly it fell silent above and everyone drew in a breath. Fili and Kili were the first to move, pushing against the boulder with everything that they had, Thorin and Dwalin right behind them. The rock creaked and rolled to the side, and out burst the dwarves. What they saw made them freeze.

The land was littered with orc corpses. Bilbo was pinned down with his back on the ground, the only thing keeping a sword from running him through was his own blade, braced against an indention on the orc's weapon. The metal was slowly coming closer to his chest until it was pressing right against it. Normally, Bilbo would have been able to push the beast off of him, but he had already been shot twice in his left arm, and the bruised ribs weren't doing him any favors. Quicker than anyone else could have moved, Kili had drawn his bow, notched an arrow, and sent it flying at the orc, hitting him dead on. Sliding out from under the body know pressed against him, Bilbo rolls to a kneeling position, rubbing his chest with his uninjured arm. He smiles cheekily up at them.

"Fighting with bruised ribs? Not my brightest idea." He only just manages to keep himself steady as Kili launches forward, and the hobbit catches him with a groan. "Woah, Kili, I'm fine!"

"But you almost weren't! We just had a talk about this not 2 hours ago! We can help you, you know! We aren't helpless!" Kili is pulled off of the hobbit by Thorin who stared down at the injured man.

"What was that? You were almost killed! Why didn't you just listen to me for once and jump down into the hole?" Bilbo pushed himself to his feet, eyes flashing.

"Because, oh great Thorin Oakenshield, I made a promise to protect you all, from yourselves, if necessary." The dwarf king's face turned slightly red.

"To whom? There was nothing on that contract about giving your life to protect us!"

"To Gandalf! He wishes you dwarves to live for as long as possible, and it would make my job so much easier if you all weren't so damn noble." Thorin whirled around to face the wizard, who looked as if he wished that he was anywhere else.

"YOU WHAT? OF ALL THE STUPID THINGS TO DO! YOU MADE HIM-" Gandalf scoffed.

"As if I can make Bilbo Baggins-Took do anything he doesn't want to. As I told you before, he's powerful." All eyes turned to the hobbit, who grinned sheepishly at them.

"I might have forgotten to tell you a few things." A elven horn sounded in the distance, causing Bilbo to wince. "But unless you want my Adar to go completely overprotective father over me in about, oh I'd say 3 minutes, then may I explain it to you all in the tunnel?" Thorin nodded, and wrapped an arm around the younger man, pulling him to his feet. He ignored how hearing his breath hitch affected him so. Allowing Bilbo to lean on him as they made their back to the hole in the ground, Thorin couldn't help but feel the muscles so poorly concealed by the hobbit's ripped tunic. He was not at all ashamed to say that he was disappointed when the burglar drew away from him to lean against the wall once they reached the tunnel.

"When I was seventeen," Bilbo began. "My mother took me to visit her old friend, Lord Elrond. After about a year of being there, we found out that there was a prophecy concerning me. I was powerful." He turned to Oin who was cutting off the material around his arm to see where the arrows had struck. "If you wouldn't mind just cutting the rest of my shirt away? There's something I need to show them, and I'll just put a new one on later." The healer nodded, and slid the knife through the rest of the fabric, before slipping the ruined shirt off of his torso. Thorin pointedly ignored looking at the very muscled body before him, choosing to stare instead at the golden necklace hanging around his neck until the hobbit started talking, again.

"These tattoos on my arms?" Bilbo pointed to them and allowed the others to see them before he continued talking. "They symbolize my powers; water, earth, fire and air. I stayed with Elrond and his family while I learned to master them, along with anything else I wanted to learn, like weapons, music, and languages, while my ma went back to the Shire. I will give you a demonstration of me fighting with powers next time we stop. For 10 years I lived there, growing close to the elves until I would consider them kin. Which means that while we are staying in Rivendell, for that is where this tunnel leads, please set aside your hatred of elves for the duration of our stay. They were not the ones who abandoned you; if we ever wander across the Mirkwood elves, I will gladly allow you to bad mouth them all you want. There are only a few elves from there that I am fond of, so by all means go right ahead. Anyway, I have another tattoo on my back, which by the way, if you ever receive a magical tattoo, pray that it doesn't hurt like mine did. That was excruciating. When Oin is done bandaging my arm, I will show you it." Once the white cloth was tied around his arm, which would sufficiently stop the blood flow until he could get proper medical attention, Bilbo unwrapped the bandage around his chest and turned around, causing the dwarves to gasp.

"It took us a while to figure out what they meant, but we finally did. While I am connected to all animals in Middle Earth during one of my journeys, I found out that I could literally connect with these animals, see what they see, enhance my senses. Eventually, I had merged with them enough that I could keep all of the senses, even when we weren't together. We knew of 4 of the animals that were on my back, but the large bird on the middle had us stumped. After several years of combing through books, we came upon an old wives tale about a firebird that could calm emotions with just its voice. It was a phoenix, a bird from the time when the Varda created our world, said to be a symbol of their chosen ones." Thorin couldn't stop himself from stepping forward and brushing his hand down his back, touching each of the animals before resting on the fire bird. He felt Bilbo take a shuddering breath from underneath him before turning around so fast that he didn't have time to remove his hand, which now rested on a firm chest. They stared into each other's eyes for several seconds, Thorin wanting nothing more than to lean down and take the hobbit's lips into his own, before Bilbo, much to the dwarf king's dismay, took a few steps back, looking uncertain for the first time since they had met him.

"We should go," he said slowly. "By now Adar will have reached the orcs, and seen that it was I who killed them; he was one of the ones who trained me, after all, he knows my style. It would not be wise to keep him waiting when he has no knowledge of whether I am alive or have been taken. He can be quite overprotective." After allowing Oin to rebandage his ribs, Bilbo searched through his pack for a short sleeve shirt, slipping into the dark green one that he found. He tried to put on his bag, but Fili pulled it from his hands, slinging it onto his back instead.

"You saved both my brother and uncle today: the least I can do is carry your things." Instead of trying to argue, Bilbo just nodded sleepily, leaning on Kili. They started their trek down the tunnel, Thorin's eyes never leaving Bilbo's back. Finally, after half an hour, they reached the end of the tunnel, the opening emptying into a courtyard.

"The Valley of Imraldis. It goes by another name in the common tongue."

"Rivendell," Bilbo sighed happily. "My home."

"Here lies the last Homely House east of the sea." Gandalf couldn't help but say smugly, for Thorin did not seem to care that he was in an elven kingdom; not if Bilbo was happy here. Dwalin, on the other hand, was a whole different story.

"This was your plan all along, to seek refuge with our enemy!" The wizard chuckled.

"You have no enemies here, Dwalin, son of Fundin. The only ill-will to be found in this valley is that which you bring yourself."

"Do you think the Elves will give our quest their blessing? They will try to stop us." He argued. Gandalf just smiled indulgently.

"Of course they will. But we have questions that need to be answered. If we are to be successful, this will need to be handled with tact and respect and no small degree of charm. Which is why you will leave the talking to Bilbo and I." The dwarves nodded, and fell silent as a dark haired elf walked up to them.

"Mithrandir." The elf bowed respectfully.

"Ah, Lindir!" Gandalf bowed back. "I believe that you will like who I am keeping Company with at the moment." Lindir raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? And who in your group of-" The elf caught sight of Bilbo, and his eyes lit up. "Bilbo!" He smiled, scooping the man into a tight hug. " _We had heard of Mithrandir's crossing into the valley, but nothing of yours. Why are you with 13 dwarves and a wizard?"_ Bilbo frowned slightly.

" _They are my friends and I have grown very fond of them."_ The lieutenant bowed his head. " _Where is Adar? I need to speak with him."_

"My lord Elrond is not here." Gandalf frowned.

"Not here? Where is he?" Suddenly, the Elvish horns from before sound again. The Company turns around and they see a group of armed horsemen approaching along the bridge. Thorin seems to snap back into himself, as if only now realizing that they were in the Company of elves.

" **Ready weapons!** Hold ranks!" He screamed, and the dwarves bunched into a tight circle, pulling Bilbo in with them. The horses circled around them a few times, before stopping, an one elf, who must be Elrond, slides off onto the ground, stalking over to Gandalf, eyes blazing.

"Where is my son, Mithrandir?"

"Behind you, Adar." A voice called from beside the horses, causing the lord to whip around before charging forward. Bilbo, who somehow managed to escape the hold of the dwarves, was standing a few paces in front of them. Elrond took one look at his son, who had bags under his eyes and a bandage around his arm before sweeping him into a hug, tight enough to jostle his ribs, making the shorter man suck in a breath. "Careful. My ribs are still healing." The elf pulled away so as to get a better look at the hobbit.

"My, boy, what have you been doing? You look terrible!" Bilbo snorted.

"You've known that I've looked worse. Now," he sent his father a meaningful look. "unless you want me to pass out right here in the courtyard, I would like to go inside, get healed, and then sleep for a week." Sending a glance to the dwarves, he turned back to the lord. "Oh, and these are my dwarves. We have traveled a long way and I'm sure that they will not object to a good bed, and even better food. I promise that they will be in their best behavior." They nodded fast, none to eager to upset the hobbit.

"Well, in that case, Lindir, please lead, our guests to the dining hall. I will attend to my son." The sons of Durin took a step forward.

"Where are you taking him?" Kili asked. Elrond smiled.

"He needs to be healed, afterwards he will have to rest." Bilbo looked at the second youngest dwarf in their Company .

"I really do need to sleep. I should be up and around in about, oh, I'd say, three days. Until then, I'm afraid that I won't be much Company ." Thorin took another step forward.

"And why is that, Master Baggins?" The hobbit rolled his eyes.

"It's Bilbo, Thorin, as I've told you multiple times. And during the past couple days, while fighting the trolls, and then later the orcs, I used many of my special abilities, none that are that noticeable but that wear me out all the same. Like using the air to shield you insufferable dwarves from arrows," he teased, but Thorin didn't move back. Bilbo sighed. "Look, as soon as I wake up, I'll come and find you guys, and stay with the Company at night for the rest of the time we are here, okay?" Without waiting for an answer, Elrond wrapped his arm around the halflings shoulders, and started leading him away. Thorin was surprised to see how Bilbo seemed to stumble. How tired was he? Before they reached the door, Bilbo turned back around.

"Oh and Ori? When I wake up, I will start your training. There's no reason to carry a weapon without knowing how to use it." The dwarves watched as one their own walked off with an elf, the older ones barely stopping themselves from chasing after him and hiding him away from their 'enemy'. Gandalf chuckled.

"Well, this will be an interesting stay."

* * *

 _ **So I've been writing a lot over the past few days, so much that I even got my computer taken away at school (don't worry; I got it back). While I would love to post everything I have written so far, I probably won't be posting anything new to this story for a while, while I work on my other two stories. Sorry, love you all!**_

 _ **Reviews are much appreciated and I love to hear from you guys! :)**_


	6. Chapter 5: Resisting Temptations

I own nothing that you recognize (really, no Hobbit or Lotr at all, and I read a lot of fanfiction, if you think that I stole an idea from you or some other story that you've ready, I apologize in advance)

* * *

Chapter Five: Fighting Temptations in Rivendell

True to his word, Bilbo did sleep for several days, waking up on the morning of their fourth day in Rivendell. The moment that he walked into the room that the dwarves were in, he was tackled by three flying bodies.

"BILBO!" He laughed as Fili, Kili, and Ori patted him all over. "You're okay!"

"Well of course I am, what did you think that they were doing to me?" They looked sheepish.

"You've been gone for three days; we had a lot of time to imagine all of the horrible things that elves could do to you while you are helpless in their clutches." Bilbo snorted, pulling away from them.

"I was asleep; if they wanted to hurt me they would have. As you can see, I am perfectly healthy."

"Indeed you are." Bilbo spun to find himself looking around right into blue eyes. Thorin looked him up and down. "You look good, Bilbo." The hobbit found himself blushing under his gaze.

"Thanks." He coughed awkwardly. "Yes, um well… Ori!" The youngest dwarf was by his second in an instant. "Grab your sword. It's time to train." Ducking around the dwarf king, he skidded to a halt in the hall. "You coming, or are you going to try and find your way to the arena and make me come and find you when you get lost?" That set him into motion, and he grabbed his weapon and ran after their hobbit. Shrugging at each other, the others followed the two out into a large open arena with a dirt floor. Bilbo pulled Ori into the center.

"Right, first thing in fighting; find a way to hold your sword that is comfortable for you. Most instructors will make you hold it a certain way, that is stupid and takes way too much time to learn. Just make sure that your hold is strong enough that if someone was to push their sword against yours it wouldn't fall out of your hands." Bilbo waited patiently as Ori fixed his hands, nodding to himself. "That's good. Now, random question: you're a scribe right?" He nodded.

"Yes, I want to become a master, but that will have to wait until after this quest."

"Okay, so here is what we are going to do. I'll run you through the motions of swordplay until you are sufficiently good at them, and then we will spar. Got that?" A nervous Dori stepped forward.  
"Wouldn't it be better to use wooden swords?" Bilbo shook his head.

"Not at all. Those things slow your reflexes; they make you think that a real sword won't give you more than bruises." And so the hobbit started teaching the young dwarf, who was actually very good for someone whe's never picked up a sword before in his life. The dwarves were astonished at how he taught, making it fun for his student. An hour later, Bilbo pronounced him ready to fight.

"Ori, in a real fight, your opponent will be aiming to kill you. You need to get in there quick and take the first shot, knocking them out before he can even start to use whatever skills he may have. I want you to try and hit me, not my sword." Ori frowned.

"But I don't want to hurt you!" The burglar smiled.

"And you probably won't. Just picture me as an enemy, what do you do?" Bilbo said go, and off they went. The warriors of the Company could tell that he was holding most of his ability back to not discourage Ori, they realized. The fight went on for several minutes before Bilbo spun around and braced his sword against the dwarf's, sending it clattering to the ground. He kicked it behind him and turned back to Ori. "You've lost your sword. What are you going to do to stop me from hurting you?" Ori looked around and lunged.

But instead of jumping at the hobbit, which would have gotten him killed in a real fight, he lept to the rack of weapons on the wall. Grabbing a set of knives, he turned around and threw them at his target. Bilbo managed to block most of them with his sword, but one got through his defenses, slicing through the side of his arm. He fell to his knees and grasped his arm. Ori rushed forward.

"Oh my gosh, Bilbo, I am so-" So fast that none in the Company even saw him move, Bilbo had swung out his leg, knocked the dwarf off of his feet, and was now straddling his waist and Ori had a knife gently pressed against his throat.

"Rule three: Never underestimate your opponent, especially when you have just injured them. You don't know what tricks they have up their sleeves to kill you with." Jumping up, he pulled the dwarf to his feet, before patting his back. "But that was a very impressive fight. Those knives? Great thinking! Most of the people I train just try to take me down with force - it doesn't end well for them." The two laughed, turning back to others whose jaws had fallen open.

"Ori, that was amazing!" Nori and Dori ran forward, before pulling their younger brother away to talk. The others gathered around the hobbit.

"Okay, why didn't you tell us that you were such a great teacher? Ori has never picked up a sword in his life, and now he's actually good at it!" Kili remarked. The teacher just stared at him.

"You never asked," he deadpanned. Thorin bumped him with his shoulder.

"While you are none the less impressive, I'm pretty sure that we could take you." A cough sounded from behind them. Elrond, Lindir, and 11 other elves stood in the archway of the training area. Lindir stepped forward.

"I'm sure that Bilbo would love to fight you all, but it will have to wait. We have first dibs on sparring with him." Fili groaned.

"13 fights? But that will take forever!" Bilbo chuckled.

"Not thirteen, Fili."

"How many then? 8? 5? 10?" Elrond stepped up next to his lieutenant.

"One. We all will be fighting my son. As a responsible father, I can't allow my children to leave unpracticed in taking on several opponents, now can I?" The dwarves looked at the elven lord in shock. Bilbo, however, just walked forward.

"Limitations? What are our weapons?"

"No killing or seriously injuring. Swords only." Bilbo opened his mouth but was cut off. "Yes, you may use your powers, but nothing too huge, okay? We don't need you passing out for a month." Bilbo sighed and walked over to the weapon shack mumbling.  
"You go over your limit one time while saving their sorry asses, and not so much as a thank you. It is not fair that the king is allowed to act like a child while I, who was a child at the time, can not!" Balin, who was pretty sure that he was the only one within hearing range, laughed at the hobbit's words, who shot him a secretive grin. As soon as he had placed his other weapons in a pile by the door, a sword flew at him, which he blocked with the weapon in his left hand. After drawing two of his swords, the dwarfs were shocked to see his other ones rise into the air next to him, as if he was fighting with two other people. In an instant the elves had him surrounded but he just laughed. "You are really going to try that one again?" He jumped into the air, hovering for a few seconds before slamming back down, knocking several elves off of their feet, 3 of which didn't stand back up. Only 2 seconds into the fight and he had already taken out a fourth of their team.

Bilbo wasted no more time talking, choosing instead to jump into the fight. The dwarves watched amazed as he moved more fluidly than his 'attackers', seeming to blur as he darted back and forth between his opponents. He stayed on the offense while his floating swords watched his back. The clanging of metal was the only thing heard for several moments, until suddenly only Lindir and Elrond were left standing, the others leaning up against the wall, knocked out. Bilbo dropped two of his swords, which clattered to the ground. "What have you guys been doing all these years that I've been gone?" He said as the three began to circle each other. "You seem to have grown soft, Adar and Gwador!" As if they were one, all three lept at each other, weapons swinging around in a blur of movement. Lindir and Elrond managed to disarm him of one of his swords, but it wasn't long before he had taken both of them down. Two other elves walked into the arena and helped carry their leader and captain to the hospital wing, for they were littered with several small cuts, but grinning all the same.

"You seem to have softened up, as well, Iôn," Elrond called over his shoulder as he limped out the door.

"I was holding back, Adar. I would hate for your ego to take as much of a beating as you did." The lord laughed. "Imagine what it would be like if I went full out, consequences be damned." They could just make out Lindir's curses of how they would never be able to beat him, then. The only thing that kept the dwarves from laughing was Elrond's reply.

"If you completely let go, you would be lucky to keep your life." While this seemed awfully morbid to the rest of the Company , Bilbo just shook his head with a faint smile on his face, before turning back to the dwarves.

"So, you still want to fight me?" They shared a look before as they all charged forward, weapons raised. Bilbo took out Nori, Ori, Dori, Bofur, Bombur, Gloin, and Oin first, with some well placed whacks to the head. They floated away, being carried out of harm's way by the wind. Next he took down Balin and Bifur, who put up a rather good fight but ultimately lost. Dwalin was the next to go, although Bilbo had had to distract the sons of Durin to do so, which wore him out. Taking down Fili and Kili was hard, for they worked together perfectly, having trained together for that very reason. Finally, only Thorin and Bilbo remained, each very sweaty and breathing heavily. Circling each other like the hobbit had done to the elves, they began to trade remarks.

"Your lot is harder to beat than the elves, I'll give you that." Thorin smirked.

"We are better than them at fighting."

"I didn't say that. I've been fighting elves for decades; I've never fought dwarves before, I don't know their moves yet."

"That's too bad for you, or else you would know this one." Feinting right and then left, Thorin braced his sword against Bilbo's, sending it flying to the other side of the arena. He grabbed the hobbit by the waist, swung him over his shoulder and pushed him to the ground, straddling his hips and pinned his arms above his head, their faces only inches apart. "And here I thought you said you could beat us."

"Them," he nodded to the now awake dwarves who were watching their exchange with interest. "I can. But you seem to have distracted me." Bilbo leaned up and kissed Thorin's cheek. The dwarf looked down at him in shock, loosening his arms. In an instant, the hobbit had wrapped his legs around the body above him and flipped them over, so that their positions changed. He leaned down next to the kings head.

"Rule Three, remember? Never underestimate your opponent or allow them to distract you. You will be beaten," Bilbo whispered in his ear, sending shivers through the body underneath him. Pulling away they looked into each other's eyes. Slowly their faces came closer together and their lips would have touched had applause not erupted from their right. Jumping to his feet, Bilbo helped Thorin stand up before they both turned to the other members of their Company , who were staring at them with amazement in their eyes.

"Well," Balin said. "That is the most entertaining and impressive fight I've seen in years."

"Aye." The others chorused. Bilbo coughed.

"Yes, well I should go visit my other family, I'm sure that they are quite anxious to see me." He bowed his head to the others, but avoided looking Thorin in the eye. He left the training area and as soon as he got into the hall, he slumped against the wall. What was he doing in there? Kissing Thorin, even just on the cheek was not allowed. He can not fall in love with him. Sure, he was handsome, and a good fighter, and his eyes sparkled when he laughed - NO! He was a king! Bilbo had to stay away.

Thorin watched as Bilbo left the training room. The others left soon after, talking about the hobbit's amazing fighting skills. Balin stayed standing next to his king, waiting to see if he wanted to talk. Suddenly, Thorin threw his arms into the air, stalking away.

"Now, whatever is the matter?" Balin said patiently. The king whirled around to face him.

"What's the matter? Did you not just see what I did? I almost kissed him!" The older dwarf chuckled.

"Unless my eyes are deceiving me, I'm pretty sure that Bilbo kissed you first on the side of your face to distract you, and then almost kissed you for real; not the other way around. He was the one on top, remember? He leaned into you." Thorin stopped his pacing to stare at his mentor.

"Really? You think so? He might like me too?" He sounded so desperate, like a dwarfling with his first crush, that Balin stepped forward and clasped his hands in his own.

"I think it's possible that he likes you even more than you like him." Thorin's face lit up then fell.

"That's not possible, I've been nothing but rude to him since we met." Balin snorted.

"While I agree, you were horrible when you first met, do you honestly think that Bilbo would allow you to keep his blade if he didn't at least like you a bit?" Thorin slid the knife out of his sleeve, staring at the beautifully decorated weapon. Several small gems, emeralds, were inlaid in the hilt, and flames were carved into the steel. When he looked back up to thank the older dwarf, he found that he was standing alone in the training area. Thorin nodded to himself.

"I will trust Balin. He has never led me wrong before." With that he walked away in hopes of finding the other dwarves in his Company .


	7. Chapter 6: By the Light of the Moon

Chapter Six: By the Light of the Moon

Bilbo, much to Thorin's disappointment, seemed to be avoiding the Company . While he still slept and ate meals with them like he promised, the only other time they really saw him was when he trained Ori with his weapons.

The next time Thorin saw him with less than 10 other people around was when they brought the map to Elrond. It was night, and Gandalf, Elrond, Thorin, Balin, and Bilbo were standing in a hall in Rivendell.

"Our business is no concern of elves." Thorin said. Gandalf scowled.

"For goodness sake, Thorin, show him the map."

"It is the legacy of my people; it is mine to protect, as are its secrets!" The wizard snorted.

"Save me from the stubbornness of Dwarves. Your pride will be your downfall. You stand here in the presence of one of the few in Middle-earth who can read that map. Show it to Lord Elrond." Thorin thought quietly for a few seconds, with everyone looking at him. He begins to hand the map to Elrond, and Balin reaches out to stop him.

"Thorin, no!" The king brushes Balin aside and hands Elrond the map. Bilbo and his father look at it. The lord of elves frown and the hobbit takes a step back.

"Erebor. What is your interest in this map?" Thorin opens his mouth to speak, but Gandalf interrupts him.

"It's mainly academic. As you know, this sort of artifact sometimes contains hidden text. You still read Ancient Dwarvish, do you not?"Elrond walks a little bit away, looking at the map. As the moonlight hits the map, Elrond realizes something.

"Cirth Ithil." He whispers. Gandalf nodded.

"Moon runes. Of course. An easy thing to miss."

"Well in this case, that is true; Moon runes can only be read by the light of a moon with the same shape and season as the day on which they were written."

"Can you read them?" Thorin asks the elf. He snorts.

"Most elves can read them. In fact, I'm surprised that you didn't ask Bilbo to read them; he's very good with languages." The hobbit smiles sheepishly.

"It's true. One of the only languages I don't know is Khuzdul; I've known iglishmek for a while now."

"Well," Balin remarked. "That will make Bifur very happy. He's been wanting to talk to you."

"To answer your previous question; yes, I can read them." Elrond leads them all to an open area outside, on the side of a cliff, with waterfalls all around. The moon is behind some clouds. They walk toward a large crystalline table that is on a balcony overlooking Rivendell. "These runes were written on a Midsummer's Eve by the light of a crescent moon nearly two hundred years ago. It would seem you were meant to come to Rivendell. Fate is with you, Thorin Oakenshield; the same moon shines upon us tonight." As they look up, the clouds covering the moon float away, and rays of moonlight hit the crystalline table, causing light to flow through the map which has been laid on the table. Ancient runes become visible on the map, and Elrond translates them out loud. "Stand by the gray stone when the thrush knocks, and the setting sun with the last light of Durin's Day will shine upon the keyhole."

"Durin's day is the dwarves' new year, when the last moon of autumn and the first sun of winter appear in the sky together." Gandalf explained. Thorin frowned.

"This is ill news. Summer is passing. Durin's Day will soon be upon us." Balin patted his shoulder.

"We still have time to find the entrance. We have to be standing at exactly the right spot at exactly the right time. Then, and only then, can the door be opened." Elrond stared at the dwarves.

"So this is your purpose, to enter the Mountain."

"What of it?" The elf raised his hands placatingly

"There are some who would not deem it wise." Thorin takes back the map gruffly, but Gandalf looks intrigued.

"Who do you mean?"

"You are not the only guardian to stand watch over Middle-earth." He replied. As Elrond walks away, Gandalf turns slowly, thinking deeply. This could cause some problems. Bilbo starts walking to the door, but Thorin calls after him to wait. Catching up to him, they walk side by side down the hall an awkward silence in the space between them.

"Why are you avoiding me?" Thorin suddenly asked. Bilbo looked up shocked.

"What makes you think that I'm avoiding you?" The dwarf scowled and looked around, before grabbing Bilbo by the arm and pulling him into an empty room, closing the door behind them.

"You know exactly what I am talking about, Bilbo Baggins-Took! Ever since that fourth day, you've been distant with everyone in the Company, and I want a reason why!" Bilbo glowered.

"It wasn't my intention to shut anyone out," he lied. "I simply needed some space." At least that was the truth. But when he turned to leave the room, Thorin pulled him back and pushed him against the wall. Their faces were only inches apart, and both could feel the other's breath against their faces.

"Is it about what happened in the training area?" Thorin whispered, looking into Bilbo's eyes. He shook his head.

"N-no," he stuttered out. "I had a lot of fun that day. The most fun I've had in awhile. It's just that." Bilbo sighed deeply, slipping out of the hold the dwarf had on him. "I find myself falling for you every time I see you. I want you, that's the problem. You are a king - a dwarf king at that, and I am a hobbit. We can not be together, even if you wished it. Now I am just rambling." Thorin reached out and placed a hand on his cheek.

"You are no normal hobbit. I would love you, if you would allow it." Bilbo found himself leaning into the dwarf's hold, before he came to his senses and jumped back.

"You can't. There are things about me that you don't know about, things that I can't tell you, or anyone else, no matter how much I wish I could. I-" Suddenly, Bilbo froze, and tilted his head as if listening to someone talk. His eyes grew dark. "We have to leave. The white council has been called into session. Even if Gandalf and Adar would give their blessing to our quest, the latter grudgingly, Saruman has never been one for change. He will try to stop us: we must leave before he gets that chance. Something about him creeps me out and I am not in the mood for him to learn about my powers if I have to fight him." Nodding at each other, they both ran out of the room to meet the others. After getting all packed up, just before they were about to leave, Bilbo quickly wrote out 6 letters for his 'family' and left them, along with a wooden crate that held everything that he would hate to get lost or ruined, in the room that the dwarves had previously occupied. And, silent as ghosts, they disappeared into the dawn.

*IN THE WHITE COUNCIL MEETING ROOM*

"What proof do we have this weapon came from Angmar's grave?" Saruman said. Gandalf shrugged.

"I have none."

"Because there is none." The white wizard argued. "Let us examine what we know. A single Orc pack has dared to cross the Bruinen. A dagger from a bygone age has been found. And a human sorcerer, who calls himself the Necromancer, has taken up residence in the ruined fortress. Not so very much, after all. The question of this dwarvish Company, however, troubles me deeply. I'm not convinced, Gandalf; I do not feel I can condone such a quest. If they'd come to me, I might have spared them..." Saruman's voice fades away when a step is heard, and they all turn around; Lindir come up and bows.

"My Lord Elrond; the dwarves, they're gone." The dark-haired elf stands up immediately.

"What of my son?" Lindir looks down.  
"He has left, as well. There are letters for all of us, your family and I, in the room that had been given to the dwarves, along with a box of which I believe to be things of great importance of him." Lindir eyed the lord meaningly, who sucked in a breath. Galadriel looked downcast.

"It has started." She whispered sadly, for she had grown fond of the young hobbit during the many times he had visited Lothlórien. Saruman and Gandalf watched confused as Lord Elrond excused himself and practically raced out of the room, with his lieutenant right on his heels.

"Bilbo…" Elrond whispered as he stared at the letter in his hands. His children; the twins, Arwen, and Estel, were crying as they read their letter, Lindir leaning against the wall with tear streaks but no tears on his face, for he had already read his letter. Elrond nodded his head before tucking the letter into his robe pocket. He would read it later, in private, but now he had to comfort his precious children. He would worry about his second youngest later, where he could cry in peace.


	8. Chapter 7: Down in Goblin Town

Chapter Seven: Down in Goblin Town

They walked for several days, stopping only when necessary. Bilbo avoided being alone with Thorin, sticking close to Fili, Kili, and Ori near the back of the group, who were all too happy to spend time with their favorite hobbit. Finally they reached the cross in the Misty Mountains finding that the trail is narrow and dangerous, with a cliff on one side and a sheer drop on the other. There was a fierce storm in the air, with lightning and rain all around.

"Hold on!" Thorin screams over the storm. As Fili walks, the stone beneath his feet gives away, and he starts falling into the chasm but Dwalin manages to pull him back in time. "We must find shelter!"

"Watch out!" Dwalin calls, pointing at the top of the mountain. The Dwarves look up and see a massive boulder hurtling through the air; it hits the mountainside above them, causing rocks to fall all around them as they press themselves against the mountain. Balin's face is stricken.

"This is no thunderstorm; it's a thunder battle! Look!" A stone giant rears up from a nearby mountain; it rips off a massive boulder from the top of the mountain. Bofur seems a little starstruck, peering out to look at the spectacle before them.

"Well bless me, the legends are true. Giants; Stone Giants!" Thorin smacks the back of his head.

"Take cover you fool!"

"What's happening?" Kili yells. The first giant throws a boulder far in the air; another stone giant appears from behind the Company, and it is hit in the head. The dwarves yell at each other to brace and hold on, and the rocks beneath their feet begin to give way from all the vibrations and from the impact of the falling rocks. The ground between some of the Company members splits; part of the group is on one side, and part on the other. As the two stone giants fight with their fists, the dwarves hold on tight as they are flung around. One of the groups manages to jump to a different spot. A third stone giant appears, and it throws a boulder at the head of one of the first two. That one falls over; as the first group watches, it appears to them that the other group of the Company has been smashed to bits. The hurt stone giant loses its footing and falls down the chasm. Thorin watches horrified as his nephew is put in harm's way again.

"No! No! Kili!" The group rushes to the spot where the others appeared to have been crushed. They were miraculously alright. Bofur looks around.

"Where's Bilbo and Kili? Where are they? There!"

"Get them!" Dwalin screams. Bilbo is hanging onto the edge of the cliff with just his fingertips looking down at his other hand which is holding tightly onto Kili, who would've fallen to his death had the hobbit not jumped down after him. Ori dives onto the ground and tries to grab Bilbo's arm, but Bilbo slips and falls another few feet before he catches another handhold. As the dwarves try to pull him up unsuccessfully, Thorin swings down on the cliff next to Bilbo and boosts him up, but instead of climbing up he swings Kili to where the others pull him to safety. Dwalin tries to lift Thorin back up too, but Thorin loses his grip and begins falling. Bilbo, now with a better hold, is able to grab the back of the king's jacket and heave him to where the balding warrior is able to pull him to safety. The burglar himself slips down several more feet, his feet touching a smooth part of the cliff, and has to use the air as a foothold, but finally manages to climb up himself to where the others were, where he is immediately pulled into Kili's hold, who clings to him as if he will disappear if he lets go.

"I thought we'd agreed no more risking your life to save us!" Kili said. Bilbo grinned, soaked to the bone but unscathed.

"No, you guys agreed to that; I didn't. And I will continue to risk my neck until you guys get it through your thick skulls to stop getting into danger." Although clearly Kili, along with Thorin, wanted to say more, Bilbo cut them off. "We need shelter to wait out this storm. It would be pointlessly dangerous to continue on tonight." They go off and find a cave.

"Looks safe enough." Dwalin remarks. Thorin shook his head.

"Search to the back; caves in mountains are seldom unoccupied." Dwalin searches the cave all the way to the end with a lantern.

"There's nothing here." he calls. Gloin drops a bundle of wood on the floor and rubs his hands.

"Alright then! Let's get a fire started." The dwarf king grabs his hand.

"No fires, not in this place. Get some sleep. We start at first light." Balin frowns.

"We were to wait in the mountains until Gandalf joined us. That was the plan."

"Plans change. Bofur, take the first watch." Bilbo steps up.

"I'll stay up with you. This place feels… wrong. No one should take watch alone in this place." Before Thorin could protest, the hobbit grabbed the hatted dwarf and pulled him over to a rock near the entrance of the cave. He growled when he saw them sit beside each other, leaning back against the wall. He starts to charge forward, but Balin pulls him back, shaking his head at him. He watches as the three youngest of the Company situated their bedrolls around Bilbo, who turns slightly to watch them with a fond smile. When the hobbit pulls out a small piece of wood and a carving knife, Ori looks up.

"Bilbo, I know it's kind of childish, but will you tell a story?" The other two look up eagerly, and for the first time Thorin realized how young those three really were, barely past their majority. But Bilbo just smiled, nodded and began to weave a tale of three princes who had to overcome the odds, and defeat a dragon in order to save their home. It was a version of their journey, the king realized, with those three at the center of it. By the time the heroes were having a celebratory feast for killing the dragon, Fili, Kili, and Ori were fast asleep, and the other dwarves were watching as Bilbo finish the tale, entranced by the story, most of them forgetting that they were in fact on a dangerous adventure at that very moment. Seeing that the three 'princes' were asleep, the hobbit leaned down and brushed a hand against each of their foreheads before pressing a kiss to their brows. As he pulled the blankets over them and slid off their weapons, laying the last one against the wall, Bilbo turned back to his whittling, ignoring the stares that followed him.

Slowly everyone except Bofur and Bilbo laid down on their mats and at least pretended to fall asleep. Several hours later, Bofur and Bilbo had been talking about Ered Luin when the hobbit jumped to his feet and raced over to Ori's sword. It was glowing blue.

"GET UP, ALL OF YOU!" He screamed. Thorin was the first to get to his feet, and hears strange machinery noises and sees cracks forming on the floor.

"Wake up. Wake up!" But it's too late, they moved too slow. Before anyone can really react, the floor of the cave collapses downwards; it was actually a giant trap door. Bilbo instinctually hovered for a few seconds before allowing himself to fall, but he kept an eye on each of his group, blowing them away from rocks that would've really hurt them. The entire Company fell down a chute, slid through a tunnel, and landed in a giant wooden cage. As they struggle to get up, a horde of goblins attacks them, takes away their weapons, and drags them all away. Bilbo pushes his way to the front of the group next to Thorin. The dwarf sees that his face is unusually pale, but before he can comment, the hobbit leans over to whisper in his ear.

"Listen to me; I have a plan to make sure that none of you guys are hurt, but you're not going to like it. But, you can't no matter what, allow any of the others try to stop them, got it?" Thorin nods dumbly, not really understanding what he was agreeing to, but knowing that it couldn't be good but before he can ask any questions, the goblin horde brings the dwarves through a vast network of tunnels and wooden bridges to the throne room and platform of the Great Goblin. The Great Goblin is a massive goblin sitting on a throne, holding a mace topped with a skull. He is huge when compared to the other goblins, and is incredibly ugly, with warts all over his swinging chin. The dwarves' weapons are piled together. The Great Goblin jumps off his throne, trampling several goblins, and approaches the Company .

"Who would be so bold as to come armed into my kingdom? Spies? Thieves? Assassins?" The goblin king screams, pointing at the Company .

"Dwarves, Your Malevolence." Grinnah, the goblin croaks out.

"Dwarves?" The goblin king asks, sounding intrigued.

"We found them on the front porch." A lesser goblin replied. The great goblin snorted.

"Well, don't just stand there; search them! Every crack, every crevice." The goblins wade into the group of dwarves, searching them thoroughly, throwing away whatever they find. Oin's hearing trumpet is thrown on the floor and crushed underfoot. Suddenly, one goblin screeches and jumps back, pointing at Bilbo. The Goblin King's face turns into a grotesque smile.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't a hobbit. What are you doing so far from home, you filth?" Bilbo's face was a mask of calm, but the dwarves behind him could see that his hands were slightly shaking.

"Wouldn't you love to know. I would say that if you unchained me I would tell you, but we both know that that's not true and that I would most likely just behead you like Bullroarer Took did to your grandfather." The massive goblin snarled.

"Bring him to me, Grinnah," he hissed out to the goblin next to him, who lunged forward and grabbed Bilbo's hair, pulling him to the front and forcing him to his knees in front of the goblin king. He took his head in his hands and turned it side to side. "You look uncannily like him, you know, Old Bullroarer. Who are you, hobbit?" The hobbit smirked up at him.

"I am Bilbo Took, great-great-many-more-greats-great grandson of Bullroarer Took." The goblin gasped.

"No it can't be. Where is your necklace thing? I know everyone of you disgusting creatures get one. There it is." The Great Goblin pulls the chain up to his eyes, making Bilbo dangle a few feet off the ground. A second later he was dropped to the ground and a scream of outrage came from the large goblin. "It's true, then! You are his descendant! You are going to wish you never left your comfy little hobbit hole when we are done with you." He backhanded Bilbo, sending him flying away several feet. The hobbit just spat out some blood and grinned up at the goblins.

"If you think that a little slap is going to do me any damage then you are sorely mistaken. You should get out more, do some push-ups; you're awfully fat." The goblin king shrieked in anger and turned to a group of nearby goblins.

"Beat him up, show him what goblins can do; why you shouldn't make us your enemy. But don't touch his necklace. When we finally decide to take mercy on him after weeks of torture, I want him to see that his heritage did nothing to protect him!" With that the goblins pounced on him, completely ignoring the dwarves and their shouts of outrage. Bilbo's plan had worked; he had drawn the goblins away from the Company, but at what price? Kili and Ori had tears streaming down their faces as they struggled against the goblins that held them, and Fili didn't seem that much better. They didn't understand really why Bilbo was being tortured and not them, but the older ones did. They had heard stories of the cruelty of goblins, and couldn't help but be glad that Bilbo took the punishment and not themselves. Everyone, that is, except Thorin, who was struggling just as much as his nephews. He had to reach Bilbo, they were hurting HIS Bilbo, he had to save him!

Despite the pain being inflicted on his body, Bilbo didn't make a single sound during his beating, he focused instead on the wind as it rushed around, wanting to do something but the hobbit couldn't allow it. Only when his shirt was ripped off of him and he felt himself being stood up did he come out of his trance. He took one look at his dwarves before telling himself that he wouldn't look again; seeing Kili and Ori's tears and Fili's pleading eyes were too much, but Thorin was the worst, he was literally shaking with rage. Bilbo sent him a quick, reassuring smile before turning his attention back to the goblin king. Licking his blood covered lips, he smirked up at him.

"Y'know," he drawled, making himself sound as annoying as possible. "You still haven't done anything to me yet yourself. You'll just hide behind your minions and your torture devices, because you're too cowardly to try and fight me in a fair fight, because you'll know that I would win. Best the mighty great goblin in his own kingdom, just like my grandfather did before me." Bilbo knew that he had succeeded when the giant goblin leapt at him, while careful not to crush him, delivered his own beating on the hobbit. He managed to remain silent throughout \most of it, but when he felt his left arm break and then get pulled out of socket, he couldn't keep in a groan of pain, and the wind took advantage of his lapse of attention to push the Great Goblin away from him. Coughing up blood, Bilbo pushed himself to his knees, wincing when he felt his ribs shift; something was definitely broken there. Still, he only thought of the dwarves and was able to grin cheekily up at his attacker.

"I take it back." He rasped out, watching the goblin king's face grew into a triumphant smirk. "Your henchmen can hit harder than you." The king growled.

"Bones will be shattered, necks will be rung! You'll be beaten and battered, from racks you'll be hung. You will lie down here and never be found, down in the deep of Goblin Town." Suddenly, before the giant goblin can leap on Bilbo, there is a massive explosion of bright light and a shock wave rips through the area, flinging goblins in the air and destroying the torturing machines. All of the beasts are knocked down, including the Great Goblin. When the force of the explosion has passed, most of the lights in the area have been snuffed out but standing in front of Bilbo is a man with a tall pointy grey hat. It is Gandalf, holding his staff and his sword, Glamdring. Light slowly returns to the area as the goblins and the dwarves slowly look up, recovering from the shock. They all stare at Gandalf

"Slash them! Beat them! Kill them! Kill them all! Cut off his head!" The goblin king screeches, pointing a gnarled hand at the wizard. Slashing his sword at the Great Goblin, the wizard sent its corpse tumbling down several floors and waved his staff, knocking back the closest goblins several hundred feet back. Turning around quickly, he pulled Bilbo to his feet.

"My boy, can you go anywhere without getting yourself into trouble?" The hobbit chuckled but immediately regretted it when pain flared up his chest. Wrapping his right arm around his torso and cradling his left, Bilbo smiled up at his companion.

"It's not like I go looking for danger, Gandalf. But being me does have it's disadvantages; Everyone seems to be out to get you." Before more words can be exchanged between the two, a body crashed into the hobbit, knocking him forward several feet. Hiding how much the collision had hurt him, Bilbo looked down to see Kili's face buried in his chest, tears streaming down his face. Two more dwarfs rammed into him, Fili and Ori, and he held them for several seconds before gently pushing them off of him.

"Not that I'm not glad that we all turned out fine," Thorin snorted at that, but Bilbo could see the concern in his eyes. "We really need to go, lest we want those goblins to capture us again." Grabbing their weapons, they all ran down a tunnel following Gandalf who seemed to know where he was going. With the help of the wind, Bilbo managed to stay slightly ahead of the group most of the time. They could hear the screeching of goblins behind them when suddenly Bilbo stopped and closed his eyes. Seconds later the dwarf's packs and supplies came zooming through the air towards them, and everyone except Bilbo put on the bags. Turning towards the company, he sighed.

"Listen, you guys have to go on without me." He talked over their loud protests. "They don't know who you are yet; they only want me right now. When you guys get to the other side of this hall I'm going to start making this mountain fall apart; you don't want to be anywhere close to here when I do that." He took a step back, but Thorin grabbed his arm, his eyes pleading. Bilbo shook his head. "I can get out, but not if I'm worrying about you all. Trust me, I'll meet you outside!" He pulled away before freezing and grabbing the front of the king's coat, pulling his face down to meet his. Their lips touched and they moved in sync and suddenly the only things that existed were them. They kissed for what seemed like a lifetime before Bilbo pulled away.

"Just in case I don't survive this, I wanted to have at least kissed you once," he murmured against the dwarfs lips, pushing Thorin back.

"Wait!" He called as the hobbit ran back the way they came. Bilbo shook his head, turning back. The dwarves were surprised to see that his normally kind emerald eyes were glowing blue, red, and grey were mixed into the green irises.

"GO!" He cried and suddenly a gust of wind picked up the other 14 members of the Company and flew them to the entrance of the next tunnel, dropping them into it but not letting them run back to Bilbo's side, even when the goblins started pouring in, surrounding him. Balin and Dwalin had to pull Thorin down the tunnel until he started running on his own. When they heard a loud deafening sound that resounded through the tunnel, making the floor shake, no one could be blamed for the tears running down their faces; even Gandalf was crying! Finally they burst out of the tunnel and into the night, only to be met with the piercing howl of a warg. Drawing their weapons as they ran, they soon found themselves cornered at the edge of a cliff.


	9. Chapter 8: Gollum and Azog

Chapter Eight: Gollum and Azog

Bilbo groaned. His whole body seemed to be on fire and not the good kind either. Everything hurt, he was pretty sure that he had at least a dozen broken bones, and his head was pounding. He had brought the cavern's roof down on the goblins, killing most of them, that was for sure. Perhaps fire traveling after receiving a beating was not the best idea. He had pictured the outside of the mountain, but he had gone who knows where, causing him to stumble and smack his head on a rock. When he had regained consciousness and found himself in a - thankfully different- dark cavern, lying behind a clump of mushrooms. He sees a goblin that somehow must have grabbed onto him lying nearby, almost dead. Suddenly, Bilbo sees a strange figure approaching the goblin. It was a slimy, skinny creature that seemed as dark as darkness, except for two big round pale eyes in his thin face. The thing gets around on all fours and Bilbo holds his breath as it passes him by before stopping at the goblin.

"Yes. Yes. Yes! Yes! Gollum. Gollum." Bilbo, out of sight behind the mushrooms, watches as 'Gollum' circles around the goblin. Gollum starts to pull the goblin away by the feet when suddenly, the goblin wakes up and begins flailing around. Startled that the thing wasn't dead, Gollum grabs a rock and pounds the goblin on the head with it, knocking it unconscious again. As Bilbo watches in slight horror, a golden ring falls out of Gollum's loincloth and falls on the floor. Gollum goes back to his task of taking the goblin wherever it is he is going. "Nasty goblinses. Better than old bones, Precious; better than nothing." Waiting a few seconds after the creature left, Bilbo pushed himself up, holding his head in his hands. Shuffling out of his hiding spot, his foot kicks something into the air. Instinctively, he grabs whatever flew up into the air and brought it closer to his face so he could see it. It was a gold ring with words that were too faded for him to read etched onto the side. Hearing Gollum singing in the distance, Bilbo puts the Ring into his pocket and follows the sound of Gollum's voice.o

"Too many boneses, Precious! Nothing of flesh! Shut up! Get its skin off. Start with its head. The cold hard lands, they bites our hands, they gnaws our feet. The rocks and stones, they're like old bones, all bare of meat. Cold as death, they have no breath, it's good to eat!" Rounding a corner, the hobbit sees Gollum silhouetted on top of a rock in the middle of a small lake. Gollum is singing as he beats the goblin's body. He smashes it in the head again with a rock. Although Bilbo is sure that he can't seem him, Gollum looks up. Bilbo quickly hides behind a rock, to exhausted to do much more. He peeks out from behind the boulder but is shocked to see that Gollum is no longer there. Bilbo slowly looks up and finds Gollum on a rock above him; he jumps down in front of Bilbo. Groaning, he realizes that he must be really out of it if someone managed to sneak up on him.

"Blesses and splashes, Precious! That's a meaty mouthful." Gollum approaches Bilbo, but Bilbo places the point of his sword on Gollum's throat, causing Gollum to retreat in fear. "Aaahh. Gollum. Gollum."

"Back. Stay back. I'm warning you, don't come any closer." Bilbo says, wincing when the action jostles his ribs.

"What is it, Precious? What is it?"

"My name is-" He caught himself just in time. Never tell your name to a creature that you have no idea what it is. "Is none of your concern. I don't want any trouble, do you understand? In fact, I was just leaving, so…"

"NOOO! Precious, can't leave!" Bilbo ignored Gollum until he realized that he was following him as the hobbit made his way out of the tunnel. Swinging around, he pointed his sword at the creature.

"Who are you and what do you want?" Gollum stared up at him with big eyes

"I's is Gollum. I like games. What has roots as nobody sees, is taller than trees. Up, up, up it goes, and yet, never grows." Bilbo sighed.

"...The mountain." Gollum begins laughing uproariously.

"Yess, yess, oh, let's have another one, eh? Yes, come on, do it again, do it—do it again. Ask us." His face morphed into a frown. "No! No more riddles. Finish him off. Finish him now. Gollum! Gollum!" Gollum snarls, and begins rushing at Bilbo to kill him, but Bilbo holds out his hand to stop him and begins speaking. It'd be so much easier to just kill the creature, but at the moment he doubted he could even lift his sword to behead it.

"No! I want to play. I do. I want to play. I can see you are very good at this. So why don't we have a game of riddles? Yes, just you and me." Bilbo crouches until he is level with Gollum; Gollum scuttles forward, close to Bilbo, whispering excitedly.

"Yes! Yes, just, just—just us." Bilbo smiles. Perhaps he could get something out of this anyway. He was too tired to be using magic to find his own way out so maybe...

"Yes. And—and if I win, you show me the way out." Gollum takes over and snarls, turning away from Bilbo. Gollum's two personality's talk to each other.

"And if it loses? What then?Well, if it loses, Precious, we will eats it!" Gollum laughs to himself, then turns back to Bilbo.

"If you's loses, we eats it whole." The hobbit digests this new information before nodding.

"Fair enough." Bilbo stands up and puts his sword away as Gollum looks on interestedly.

"Well, you's first." As Bilbo thinks of a riddle, Gollum rests his hands and chin on the edge of a rock.

"Thirty white horses on a red hill. First they champ, then they stamp, then they stand still." As Gollum thinks, he keeps opening his eyes and mouth as if he knows the answer, then changes his mind. This goes on for several seconds, until he finally replies questioningly.

"Teeth?" Bilbo nods. "Teeth! Yes, my Precious. But we—we—we only have nine."Gollum displays his mouth, showing that he really does only have nine teeth, slightly disgusting the hobbit out. Gollum begins reciting his next riddle, while getting closer and closer to Bilbo.

"Our turn. Voiceless it cries, wingless flutters, toothless bites, mouthless mutters. Oh, oh! We knows. We knows! Shut up."

"Wind. It's wind! Of course it is." Bilbo said keeping his eyes on the creature. Gollum snarls in frustration and begins slinking around, approaching Bilbo.

"Very clever, very clever." When he gets too close for comfort, Bilbo pulls out his sword and points it at Gollum again, but also begins saying his own riddle.

"Ah, ah, ah, ah. A—a box without hinges, key, o—or, or lid; yet golden treasure inside is hid." Bilbo grabbed at his chest. It was becoming hearer to breath. This was not good. Gollum thinks hard, talking to himself and making many hand motions.

"A box...and a lid...and then a key...

"Well?"

"It's nasty. Uh, box, uh..."

"Give up?" Bilbo rasped out.

"Give us a chance, Precious, give us a chance!" Gollum begins pounding the floor and snarling in frustration. He puckers his face up deeply, then suddenly opens his eyes wide as he gets the answer.

"Eggses! Eggses!" He laughs. "What crunchy little eggses, yes. Grandmother taught us to suck them, yes."

"Ahh. We have one for you: All things it devours, birds, beasts, trees, flowers. Gnaws iron, bites steel, grinds hard stones to meal. Answer us." Bilbo tries to ignore the pain do that he can answer the question. "Is it tasty? Is it scrumptious? Is it crunchable?" When Gollum says 'crunchable,' he appears behind Bilbo and tries to grab him by the throat, but Bilbo jumps away and points his sword at Gollum.

"Time! The answer is time **."** Gollum snarls. "Last one. Ask me. ASK ME!" The hobbit nodded.

"Okay, okay. We hurt without moving. We poison without touching. We bear the truth and the lies. We are not to be judged by our size." Gollum opened his mouth but then frowned. Several minutes went by with the creature not answering before Bilbo spoke again. "Time's Up!" Upon hearing this, Gollum falls to the floor, sobbing. "I won the game, you promised to show me the way out."

"Did we say so, Precious? Did we say so?" Gollum slowly turns around and glares hatefully at Bilbo. "No! No. I shall not!" Bilbo sighed when the creature made its way towards the burglar, a rock raised in his hands. He was shocked to see the insaness in his arms and knew that there was only one thing to do. He raised his sword.

"I'm sorry, Gollum." Bringing his sword down, Bilbo slammed it onto it's head, knocking him out immediately. He would have killed him, but his vision was starting to have black dots dancing in it and he was wobbling on his feet. He allowed the wind to pick him up so that he was floating a couple inches off of the ground. "I don't suppose that you found a way out of here?" That was all he got to say before he was zooming through the tunnels. The wind carried him out of the mountain and into a forest of trees until he got to a cliff. What he saw made him wrench himself from the wind's hold and charge forward.

Thorin should've known that the orcs would find them eventually. Azog and his Warg Riders could just be seen over the a peak in the mountain.

" _ **Run them down! Tear them to pieces!"**_ Azog swings his mace forward, and several of his Wargs (without riders) leapt forward and race down the mountain after the Company, howling.

"Out of the frying pan..." Thorin sighs wiping at his tear-streaked face.

"...and into the fire! Run! RUN!" Gandalf screamed. They all start running down the mountain as fast as they can. The Wargs follow them rapidly; it becomes dark. Soon the foremost Warg catches up to the group and leaps at Ori; he ducks behind a rock and the Warg's jaws snap in the air over his head. The Warg lands in front of him. Growling, it charges at him.

Ori pulls out his sword and holds it in front of him; surprisingly, the Warg impales itself in the head on the sword and falls down dead. Dori looks on in surprise before grabbing his brother and pulling him forward. A few more Wargs catch up to the fleeing dwarves, but they are quickly dispatched. The Company reaches a large outcropping of land with a few trees growing on it; they are trapped there, as there is no way off the outcropping besides a great fall down the mountain.

"Up into the trees, all of you! Come on, climb! Climb!" Gandalf quickly scales a tree, the others following soon after. Bifur throws an axe, killing a Warg which was approaching him. Bofur jumps off a rock and grabs a tree branch, using Dwalin's head as a stepping stone to the tree. Other dwarves began climbing into the trees as well.

"They're coming!" Balin cried. Gandalf climbs to the top of the furthest tree; Dwalin boost Balin up. Thorin, Bombur, and the rest climb up trees too. The main body of Wargs and Warg Riders approach. Dozens of Wargs circle the trees in which the Company members are perched. Gandalf reaches out with his staff and picks up a moth sitting in the same tree as him. Bringing the moth close to his face, he whispers to it; he then blows it gently, causing it to flutter away. The Wargs cease their growling and turn as the White Warg, with Azog on its back, approaches slowly. As his White Warg growls, Azog strokes it and talks ominously.

" _ **Do you smell it? The scent of fear? I remember your father reeked of it, Thorin son of Thrain."**_ Thorin jerks back, his face filled with pain and grief, realizing that Azog had captured his father.

"It can not be." Azog turns to speak with his Wargs and Riders.

" _ **That one is mine. Kill the others!"**_ At his command, the Wargs leap forward and try to climb the trees. They jump as high as they can, scrabbling at the tree trunks and breaking apart branches in their jaws in their efforts. The trees shake violently at the assault, and the dwarves struggle to hold on. " _ **Drink their blood!"**_

With the weight of the Wargs climbing it, the furthest tree from the edge of the cliff, which has several dwarfs in it, gets uprooted from the ground and begins leaning wildly. As more Wargs grab onto it, the tree tips over and lands on the next tree; the dwarves jump from the falling tree to the next. However, this tree as well tips over; like dominoes, all the trees begin falling over. All the dwarves and Gandalf manage to jump onto the last tree, on the very edge of the cliff. This tree doesn't fall over. Azog laughs. Looking around in desperation, Gandalf spies a pinecone. He grabs it and uses his staff to set the pinecone on fire; he then throws it down amid the Wargs, who retreat in fear of the fire. Azog is startled and angry at the unexpected resistance. Gandalf lights two more pinecones and throws one down to Fili.

"Fili!" The wizard cried. Fili catches the pinecone. The others gather pinecones and Gandalf sets them on fire; they then throw the flaming pinecones like missiles at the Wargs. All the area around the tree gets set on fire, forcing the Wargs to retreat a distance. At least one Warg gallops away with its fur alight. Azog roars in anger and frustration as the dwarves cheer. Suddenly, their cheers turn into cries of fear as the roots of the tree they are in start to give way; the tree tips precariously over the edge of the cliff, but comes to a rest sticking straight out away from the edge of the cliff. Gandalf looks down and sees the ground far, far, below. The dwarves try to hold on as they get flung around. Ori loses his grip on the tree and falls, but manages to grab on to Dori's leg.

"Aahhh! Oh! Oh no!"

"Mister Gandalf!" Because of the extra weight of his little brother, Dori loses his grip on the tree as well and falls, but Gandalf quickly swings his staff down and Dori grabs on to the end of it. "Hold on, Ori!"

Azog growls; Thorin, clinging to the tree, looks at him in hate and anger. Thorin pulls himself up, his sword drawn, and gets off as the others, hanging from the tree, look on. Thorin runs through the burning ground at Azog and his White Warg. Azog spreads his arms wide with a smug grin on his face. Thorin growls as he runs with his sword up and his oaken branch shield held in front of him. Azog crouches, then roars as his Warg leaps at Thorin. Thorin tries to swing his sword, but the Warg hits him in the chest with its forepaw, smashing Thorin to the ground. The other dwarves in the tree look on in shock. Dori struggles to hold on to Gandalf's staff.

"Help!" Ori screams desperately. As Thorin gets back on his feet, panting, Azog and his White Warg wheel around; they charge at Thorin again. Azog swings his mace and smashes Thorin in the face before Thorin can react. Thorin is brutally flung to the ground by the impact.

"Nooo!" Balin cries. Azog roars in excitement. The White Warg clamps its jaws around Thorin and Thorin yells in pain. Dwalin tries to get off and tree to assist Thorin, but the tree branches he is holding on to break, swinging him precariously over the edge and preventing him from reaching Thorin.

"Thorin! Nooo!" Dwalin yells. As the White Warg holds Thorin in its mouth, Thorin manages to hit its head with the pommel of his sword. Roaring, the White Warg throws Thorin several feet away onto a flat rock nearby. Thorin lands heavily, his sword falling out of his hand. He is almost unconscious.

" _ **Bring me the Dwarf's head."**_ One of Azog's Warg Riders jumps off his Warg and approaches Thorin, his sword raised to behead the king of dwarves. Suddenly, someone, who the dwarves thought they would never see again, burst forward and parried the attack, tackling the orc to the ground and stabbing it with his sword, killing it instantly. Bilbo turns to face the pale orc, sword raised defiantly and his eyes glowing with power and hatred. " _ **Kill him."**_ Azog snarls out, remembering the hobbits he had killed when he had raided the Shire. The fire around Bilbo and the orcs flared up, keeping a protective barrier between the stunned dwarves and their friends. The burglar smirked evilly.

" _ **You already killed my family once. What makes you think I'm going to let you do it again?"**_ Bilbo raised his hands towards the sky. " _ **Now it's your turn."**_ Azog watched as five of the orcs and wargs that were around him flew up into the sky before crashing back to the ground, dying immediately. He looked back shocked at the hobbit, who just grinned and ran forward into the group of enemies. No matter what they did, they couldn't seem to kill this stupid halfling. Blows that should've killed him only went so deep, but he was killing the orcs left and right. Bilbo jumped back out of the fight, staring into Azog's eyes.

" _ **Next time I see you, you will die."**_ Bilbo called before running back to Thorin's side. Before Azog could follow him, fires raged all around him, efficiently boxing him in. When he escaped the flames, the dwarves, hobbit, and wizard were gone, the only things remaining were a charred clif and a barren terrain. Azog lifted his head and screamed into the sky, a sound that echoed for miles. He made a silent promise. He would find that halfling, and he would kill him.


	10. Chapter 9: Beorn the SkinChanger

Chapter Nine: Beorn the Skinchanger

Bilbo didn't know what he was thinking charging into a battle with no clear plan and several broken bones. He only knew that Thorin would've died had he not done anything, and that justified his means, he would think. Having seen Ori and Dori falling out of the tree, he had had the wind place them safely on its branches before turning back to his enemies. After killing the orcs with magic and then actually battling them, stepping back was the hardest thing he had ever done. But he could feel the eagle's presence and how drained he was; he was surprised that he was still on his feet. Once allowing the massive bird to him up in it's claws, Bilbo realized just how hurt he was. His breathing was labored from several broken ribs, deep gashes littered his body from his fight with the orcs, had at least 11 other broken bones, and he was fairly certain that his entire body was covered in bruises. Still, flying with the eagles, gliding through the air with the sun warming his face, Bilbo could honestly forget the pain completely. At least he could until he looked at Thorin.

The dwarf king was in bad shape, covered in almost as much blood as Bilbo. Locking eyes with the wizard, the hobbit managed to croak out a conversation with Gandalf making him promise to heal Thorin first before the darkness claimed him for itself. The Eagles soared through the sky over a great distance. Thorin lies unconscious in one Eagle's talons; the others worry about him, none seemed to realize that Bilbo had passed out.

"Thorin!" Fili cried. The Eagles approach a massive rock structure shaped like a bear. The Eagle carrying Thorin gently deposits him and his sword on a flat area on top of the Carrock. Another Eagle lands on the Carrock and Gandalf slides off its neck, running toward the unconscious Thorin.

"Thorin! Thorin." Thorin does not respond. The wizard places his hand on Thorin's face and whispers a spell. Thorin's eyes flutter open and he gasps for air. He speaks weakly.

"Bilbo?" He coughed out. Gandalf shakes his head but then nods slowly.  
"He is alive, Thorin. But badly hurt. I doubt that I have enough left in me to heal him at the moment." The king jumped to his feet, startling the dwarves around him. Fili and Kili grab his arms when he sways.

"Where is he?" He desperately asked the wizard, who looked up into the sky. Soaring down towards them were three eagles. In the middle ones claws was Bilbo. Gently, they lay him down at the peak of the cliff before going back to circling the Carrock. The members of the Company run over to him, Thorin, Fili and Kili kneeling by his side. Brushing a hand over his face, Gandalf was upset to find that the hobbit had a bad fever.

"We need to get him somewhere he can heal, Thorin. There is a person near by who while not the most hospitable of men has been known to take in wary travelers. I've heard stories of him being especially fond of the hobbits when they used to be nomads. I am quite certain that he would allow us to stay there, if only to make sure our hobbit is healed properly." Before Thorin could move to take the hobbit into his arms, Fili scooped him up and turned to face his uncle.

"You are still healing, despite whatever else you may say. Kili and I will carry him." With that they started off down the mountain, along trails, and through forests. They hear howls from behind them and sent Nori, as he is the quietest of dwarves, to investigate.

"How close is the pack?"

"Too close. A couple of leagues, no more, but that is not the worst of it." Nori panted out.

"Have the Wargs picked up our scent?" Dwalin asked the thief.

"Not yet, but they will; we have another problem." Gandalf frowned.

"Did they see you? They saw you!"

"No, that's not it."

"Oh, then we are fine." Nori threw his hands into the air.

"Will you listen- Will you just listen? I'm trying to tell you there is _something else_ out there." The dwarves exchanged worried looks. Gandalf just smiled.

"What form did it take? Like a bear?"

"Ye..." Nori paused and looked curiously at the wizard who motions for him to continue. "Y- yes. But bigger, much bigger."

"You knew about this beast? Why would you bring us here if we have to fight? How can we possibly protect Bilbo if a battle was to break out?" All eyes turned to the hobbit, who was propped up in Kili's arms. His face was pale, and shining with sweat. Oin dabbed at his forehead before shaking his head.

"He won't last much longer out here. We need to get somewhere I can treat him properly, fast." Gandalf turns and walks a few steps away. Bofur stepped forward.

"I say we double back." Thorin frowns and his eyes stay on Bilbo.

"And be run down by a pack of Orcs." The wizard turned back to the dwarves.

"There is a house, it's not far from here, where we might take refuge."

"Whose house? Are they friend or foe?" Gandalf chuckled.

"Neither. He will help us, or he will kill us." The dwarves looks at each other in dismay. Thorin sighed.

"What choice do we have?" A roar splits the night behind them; it is the bear that Nori had talked about.

"None." Gandalf said solemnly.

The Company runs through plains and across streams. "Come on!" Gandalf yelled over his shoulder. As the group runs through a forest, Azog and his Orcs are racing through the forest too. Azog urges his party on. Both groups stop suddenly when an ear-splitting roar sounds nearby. "This way, quickly!" As the dwarves panic and run, Bombur looks on in shock until he is pulled along.

"Bombur, come on!" Bofur pulls the overweight dwarf forward. As they exit the forest, they spy a house surrounded by a hedge in the middle of a plain.

"To the house! Run!" The Company runs across the plain; Bombur, the fattest dwarf, outruns all the rest of them in his fear. Kili, Fili, and Ori are placed in the middle of the group, since they are holding Bilbo. They run through a gate in the hedge. "Come on, get inside!"

They run to the front door of the house; it is closed. Bombur, who reaches the door first, throws himself against it but falls flat on his back when the door doesn't budge. The rest of the dwarves catch up and begin throwing themselves against the door, trying to open it. Gandalf looks back as a massive bear breaks out from the edge of the forest and runs toward them.

"Open the door!" Gandalf said.

"Quickly!" Thorin cries. The king, pushing through the dwarves pressed against the door, manages to raise the exterior bolt, opening the doors. The entire Company bolts inside the house and they try to slam the door shut, but the bear has already gotten its head in the door. As the bear roars and tries to push the door open, the dwarves yell and strain to close it. Ori pulls out his sword and points it unsteadily at the bear. Gandalf looks on in amusement. The dwarves yell as they press against the door.

"Come on, lads!" Dwalin shouts. With a final heave, the dwarves manage to close the door and drop the bolt across it. They sigh in shock, fear, and tiredness.

"What _is_ that?" Ori breathed, sheathing his sword. Gandalf chuckled. "That...is our host." The dwarves turn to Gandalf in bewilderment. "His

name is Beorn, and he is a skin-changer." Oin checks his - newly repaired-

hearing trumpet to make sure he has heard Gandalf correctly "Sometimes he's

huge black bear; sometimes he's a great strong man. The bear is unpredictable, but

the man can be reasoned with. However, he is not overfond of dwarves." The dwarves look at each other in dismay. Ori peaks out a crack in the door.

"He's leaving!" Dori pulls him away from the door.

"Come away from there! We already have one person hurt, we don't need another. It's not natural, none of it. It's obvious: he's under some dark spell." Gandalf glared.

"Don't be a fool; he's under no enchantment but his own. Alright now, get some sleep, all of you. You'll be safe here tonight." The dwarves start spreading out through the house. Gandalf whispers quietly to himself. "I hope." Oin tells the boys to lay Bilbo down on a pile of hay. All he can do for the hobbit at the moment is try and keep his fever down. He needed some medicine. They needed Beorn to help them, or Bilbo would die.

Beorn was much taller than any human, even taller than Gandalf. He addresses Thorin. "So, you are the one they call Oakenshield." Thorin frowned.

"How do you know that?"

"Azog the Defiler is hunting you." Before they can talk more, Oin interrupts, beckoning Thorin over.

"Thorin, his fever is increasing. If we don't do something soon, he will die." The King Under the Mountain jumped when he felt a large hand grab his waist and lift him up to look at their host's angry face.

"What did you do to that hobbit?" Thorin shook his head violently.

"It wasn't us. We were caught by goblins on our way through the Misty Mountains. Damn hobbit always has to be so noble." The dwarf growled out, but everyone could hear the emotion in his voice. Beorn sat him back onto the ground and held his head in his hands.

"First thing to know about hobbits; they are the most noble people you've ever met if you've gained their loyalty. Since he gave you his, I shall give you the benefit of the doubt and allow you to stay in my home. But first allow me to heal the hobbit." More gently than the dwarves thought possible, the skin-changer scooped Bilbo into his hands and carried him into another room, motioning for Oin to follow. The others made to go with them, but Gandalf called them back.

"Let Beorn show Oin how to heal a hobbit without interruptions." At the dwarves confused looks, the wizard elaborated. "Hobbits can't be healed like you and I can. For some odd reason, the normal herbs don't work on them. And the fact that they can heal faster than we do, probably helps - that and the fact most are never wounded enough to actually need life saving medicine." Fili frowned.

"So even if we had had medicine, it wouldn't have helped Bilbo?" Gandalf hummed.

"Hmm, I would suppose not. Perhaps it is fate that brought us here."

"Wish fate didn't have to make Bilbo be tortured to find that out though." Kili grumbled under his breath. The dwarves sat around the table and attempted to eat the breakfast that was laid out for them, but none got very far into it, except Bombur of course. Thorin didn't even try to make it look like he was eating - he didn't touch a thing, only staring at the door the healers had gone through as if he could make it move with his eyes. So it was a great surprise when it burst open and Oin ran out up to Fili.

"I need a knife, quick!" The prince fumbled with the blade. "Hurry up, boy!" Turning to go back into the room, the oldest Oin brother turned back around. "You might want to cover your ears. Bilbo was able to stop himself from screaming in the goblin's cave, but now he is in a dream like state, probably hallucinating about who knows what. You will hear screams, most likely things falling to the ground if he fights back which I think he will; you must not come in!" With that he closed the door behind him. Seconds later, a piercing scream rang through the air, chilling everyone down to their bones. They had never heard Bilbo scream before, let alone cry, but sobs could be heard from the other side of the door that broke even the most stone-hearted dwarf's heart.

"No! Please, not again! Don't hurt them! Hurt me instead, pleeAAHHHHH!" Cries of pain echoed through the house and several dwarves jumped to their feet to run to the door, but Gandalf stopped them once more.

"If you go in there, what do you think that you could do? I doubt Beorn or Oin would want to harm Bilbo so whatever they are doing must be done. So sit down!" They did. Kili, Ori and Fili had silent tears rolling down their cheeks, as did many others, while they listened as their hobbit thought he was being tortured.

Bilbo knew pain. He had been kidnapped, tortured even, plenty of times before. But this was new. He was back in the goblin's tunnels, and he had imagined that Gandalf had shown up and saved them all, but he knew that that hadn't happened. The goblin king had realized that he wasn't getting anywhere with the hobbit and instead dragged Ori up. And then Fili. And Kili. He had slit their throats without a care, smiled at Bilbo, before advancing at him with the same blood-covered knife. As it was dragged across his skin, the blade digging inches into his body, he didn't bother holding back his screams, his sobs. But then the king turned back to his dwarves and pulled Balin, Dwalin, and Bofur forward.

"No! Please, not again! Don't hurt them! Hurt me instead, pleeAAHHHHH!" He had killed them, watched as their bodies tumbled to the ground, before going to back to Bilbo, stabbing him viciously. Suddenly, the goblin morphed into Thorin, who stared hatefully down at him.

"To think I could've ever liked you. You are a worthless piece of trash who got my family killed. I hate you." He and the other dwarves crowded around the hobbit and delivered their own beating onto their burglar. Pulling him up, the dwarf king placed the knife against Bilbo's throat. "You are nothing. You killed your parents. You killed Fili and Kili and Ori. Balin, Dwalin, and Bofur are dead because of you. You only bring destruction with you. How could you think you could possibly ever do what was prophesied of you? You're a murderer who doesn't give a damn of what happens to anyone else besides yourself!" 'That's not true!' Bilbo had wanted to say, but his mouth wasn't working right. Thorin's left hand, that wasn't pressing the knife to the hobbit's throat reached up and grabbed his necklace, yanking it off of him. Spitting on it, he threw it over the chasm, and Bilbo lost it. His magic exploded out, throwing back all of the goblins and dwarves alike.

When the dust settled Bilbo was on his knees and was horrified to see what he had done. Each and everyone of the dwarves - HIS dwarves- were impaled on various spires throughout the cavern. All of them were staring at him accusingly, but Thorin was the worst, his eyes full of betrayal and shock. Tears pouring down his face, Bilbo picked up the knife that the king must have dropped. Before he had decided whether or not to just plunge the blade into his own chest, darkness overtook him and for once he didn't fight back against it.

The dwarves were restless. It had been three days since they had arrived at Beorn's house. A day ago, the two healers had come out of the other room and said that Bilbo's injuries were no longer life threatening. But he was in coma that they didn't know when, or if, he would wake up from it. Gandalf said that it was his magic recuperating itself because he had used to much of it a once. Despite the fact that he was unresponsive, at least 5 of company, most of the time Kili, Fili, Ori, Balin and Thorin, sat with him all day. They would talk to him about anything and everything, but they only ever got screams and pleading in return. No one knew what to do anymore.

Bilbo was running. Tree branches scratched against his face, he never stopped to look behind him, scared of what he would see chasing him. All he knew was that every time he got separated from his dwarves, hundreds of different animals started chasing him. Sometimes they would catch him, other times he could out run them. And there was this voice, that echoed in his head, whispering about a ring, and how it would revive him. The voice felt evil to Bilbo, but no matter what he did he couldn't make it go away. It would taunt him, saying that he wouldn't be able to reach them in time; that they would die because of him. He felt something running at his side and smiled. No matter what was chasing him, there was always a timber wolf by his side. It would protect him and him it. Yet he's never managed to save the other members of his Company before it was too late.

Bursting out of the forest, he skidded across an ice ledge, stumbling around for a few seconds before getting back onto his feet. In the distance he could see the bodies of 12 dwarves. His head fell but then snapped up. 12? There were 13 dwarves! Running forward, Bilbo could just make out the figure of Thorin, fighting against a massive orc. Azog. Before he could move another step forward, something pounced on him, knocking him to the ground. It was a white warg, and it snarled and drooled over Bilbo's face. Just barely, the hobbit could see the still form of his wolf behind it, lying in a pool of blood. Closing his eyes, he felt the giant dog's maw come closer to his face. Hot breath pushed against his skin and he waited for the pain that would come before death. But it never came.

Bilbo opened his eyes and saw blue sky above him. Just as he was wondering what in Yavanna's name had just happened, he felt something grab him roughly from behind. He found himself staring into the blue eyes of Azog, who had a grotesque smile on his face.

" _ **You've lost. They are dead."**_ Bilbo looked over to his left and saw Thorin's body lying on the frozen ground. A gold crown circled his head, and he was dressed in the finest armour, but it was marred by his blood. Wait, a gold crown? Thorin doesn't wear a crown. He turned back to the orc.

"This isn't real," He whispered. "So what is?" Everything around him vanished and he saw himself in a large bed. Kili and Fili sat beside him, staring at his unmoving body. Bilbo was confused. Where were they? How was he seeing himself if he was pretty sure that he was not in a bed?

" _You're in a coma."_ A voice echoed in his head, but not the evil voice from before. This one was warm and feminine, making him feel safe and at home. " _The Company has been staying at a friends, Beorn, a skin changers, house. You've been like that for a week."_ Bilbo gasped.

" _So we did escape from the goblins. They're still alive!"_ The voice laughed.

" _Yes, Chosen One, you saved them."_ The hobbit frowned.

" _Then why am I out here and not in my body?"_

" _Several reasons. One, I needed to talk to you. You almost didn't make it this time. We were able to speed up the amount of time it takes for your magic to build back up but be careful; next time you use that much, it won't end well for anyone."_ Bilbo nodded. " _Two, Do you remember that ring you found in Gollum's tunnels?"_ The burglar reached into his pocket (He was surprised that he still had clothes on, the other him's chest was bare) and pulled out the gold band. Looking at it more carefully than he had in the mountain, he gasped.

" _Is this what I think this is?"_ He asked incredulously.

" _The One Ring."_ The voice said solemnly.

" _But why did Gollum have it?"_

" _That is a story for another time. Right now I have to explain to you several things."_ She paused. " _Sauron's ring will wake up the more you have it in your possession. It feeds off of your power, but it won't drain you unless you use it for a long period of time. I would suggest keeping it on a chain of some sort - not your necklaces though. When you finish this quest, you must see that ring destroyed in Mordor, before the Necromancer can get his hands on it. It will be many years before you actually go on this quest, but you must not fail or the world of Middle Earth will be lost."_ Bilbo swallowed nervously. " _Do not worry, little hero. When the time comes, you will be ready. But at the moment, it is time for you to return to your body; your friends are worried about you."_ Before the hobbit could get another word out he felt himself flying forward and entering the body lying on the bed. Keeping his eyes shut, he listened as the princes talked.

"You need to wake up soon, Bilbo. Everyone is really worried." Fili snorted.

"That's an understatement. I doubt that Uncle has gotten more than a couple hours sleep since the goblins." Bilbo's eyes furrowed at that. Thorin wasn't sleeping? That's not good. He heard Fili sigh. "I don't know why they think that talking to him will bring him back. If anything he seems less responsive." The oldest nephew of the king stood up and turned to the door.

"Where are you going?" Kili asked.

"I can't just sit here doing nothing!" As he listened to the princes argue, the hobbit thought about the best way to grab their attention.

"Could you two keep it down? I'm trying to sleep here!" The two dwarves whirled around to stare at their injured friend. Kili crept over to the side of the bed and lifted his hand.

"Bilbo…?" He reached out his hand, as if to touch the hobbit's face.

"Kili, I swear, if you poke me I will bite off your finger." Opening his eyes, Bilbo laughed at the shocked expression on the dwarf's face. He was surprised to find out how hoarse his voice was. Fili and Kili stared with gobsmacked expressions, making the burglar sigh. "Alright, I know I'm not much, but, what? No hug? Where's the party? C'mon, nothing?" Bilbo frowned. "Well, I'm not angry. Just very very disappointed." That snapped the two out of their shock and seconds later he found himself with an armful of dwarf.

"BILBO!" Kili cheered, burying his head into his shoulder. Laughing, the hobbit patted the back of his head before pulling Fili into a hug as well. They stayed that way for a while, the burglar kindly not saying a thing about the way the two dwarves' shoulders shook. When they pulled away, Bilbo reached out and ruffled their hair.

"Now, that's more like it! Just so you know, I missed you guys, too. I much prefer to see you as you two are now, than what you were in my head." He ignored their confused looks and rubbed a hand against his chest. "Although I would love for you guys to stay and chat, would one you mind going to get Oin and our wonderful host? I am in pain right-" He didn't get to finish his thought before the two princes had ran out of the room and returned seconds later with the two healers in tow.

"What hurts?" The skin-changer stepped forward with several containers in his hands. Seeing the way that the hobbit took in shuttering breaths, Beorn gently helped him stand up. Feeling his chest, the large man knew that Bilbo's ribs were still broken, while surprisingly most of his other injuries were almost completely healed. Beorn slowly rubbed a cold blue paste over the hobbit's chest and back that numbed them before he wrapped a thick white bandage around his torso, effectively keeping his ribs from moving. "Take it easy for a couple more days and you should be alright." Bilbo nodded before turning to Oin who was glaring at him.

"How much trouble am I in for not telling you about the way hobbits are healed?" The old dwarf just sighed.

"At the moment, none. But what do you think would have happened if Beorn hadn't known about healing hobbits? Or you had gotten very badly hurt some place far from here?" Bilbo smiled.

"Well, I suppose I would have died. And wouldn't that be unfortunate? I never would have even gotten to face down the old dragon. I was really looking forward to that, too." The two princes stared at each other for several seconds before bursting into laughter.

"It's good to have you back, Bilbo."

"Well, I'm glad to be in the land of the living; it's my favorite place to be, actually." Bilbo teased the two young dwarves before turning back to the skin-changer and bowing his head. "Master Beorn, I can not thank you enough for allowing my friends and I to take refuge in your house during our time of need." Beorn just laughed.

"To be honest, if they had not had a hobbit in their company I may not have allowed them to stay." The hobbit's eyes lit up.

"You're the bear man from the stories! I should have guessed that when I learned that you were a skin-changer!" The large man smiled, clearly happy to have been remembered by the hobbits.

"Yes, now little bunny," Bilbo scowled at that nickname. "Since you are still healing and your ribs are pretty busted, take it easy, remember? No strenuous activities for at least a week, understood?" The hobbit rolled his eyes, winking at the two princes, who were having a hard time holding in their laughter.

"Yes, mother. No overexerting myself." Bilbo walked to the door and pulled it open, only to find himself pinned down to the floor when a body landed on him. Groaning, he used his hands to push the weight slightly off of him so that he could breath. He looked over at the giant innocently. "Does being tackled count as strenuous activity?" Fili and Kili finally lost it and fell to the floor, laughing. Bilbo felt the body above him shake slightly as it chuckled. He looked up and found himself staring into Thorin's blue eyes. He sucked in a breath. "Well, if you would be so kind as to get off of me, it would be most appreciated." The dwarf king's eyes glinted.

"I don't think so. You see I happen to be very comfortable where I am and have no intention of moving." Bilbo sighed and leaned in closer to the man above him. Their lips brushed when he talked.

"Well, then there goes your chance to leave peacefully. Fili, Kili, GO!" Thorin barely had time to act before he was tackled off of the hobbit and to the ground where an impromptu wrestling match broke out between the royal family, much to the amusement and entertainment of the others. Bilbo stumbled over to Balin and fell down into the chair next to him with a groan. The old dwarf smiled.

"You know, I haven't seen him play with his nephews like this since they were wee dwarflings." Balin remarked, sending the hobbit a pointed stare. He just chuckled.

"He is acting like a child for once, isn't he? Thorin needs to let go more often and allow others to take initiative." The dwarf snorted.

"Well, you're one to talk. This is the what? Third time you've managed to get yourself hurt while protecting us with your self-sacrificing acts?" Bilbo smiled boyishly to the man next to him.

"Now, I wouldn't call it self-harm, Balin. I prefer… injured in the line of duty." The two laughed before turning their attention back to the fight going on on the ground. It seemed that Thorin was winning - he was sitting on top of Fili and had Kili in a headlock. That is until a particularly strong gust of wind knocked him over and the younger dwarves piled on top of him, pinning him to the ground. Thorin looked over at Bilbo, his eyes wide with mock anger.

"You cheated! I would've beat them if a gust of wind hadn't blown me onto my back!" Bilbo held his hands up.

"Hey, I set them up to it, I had to at least help them win. And do you realize how ridiculous you sound? A gust of wind blew you over." The company sat in stunned silence, waiting to see how their king would react, when to their surprise, he busted out laughing, a deep belly laugh that Dwalin and Balin hadn't heard since before Smaug attacked Erebor. They stared, shocked, at the hobbit, their heads moving back and forth between Thorin and Bilbo, not really believing that one person could take away years of devastation in just a few months. But Bilbo had done it.

Later that day during dinner, Thorin brought up something Beorn had said that first night at his house. "You know of Azog? How?" Beorn sighed.

"My people were the first to live in the mountains, before the Orcs came down from the north. The Defiler killed most of my family, but some he enslaved." The dwarves can see the remnants of manacles on Beorn's wrist. "Not for work, you understand, but for sport. Caging skin-changers and torturing them seemed to amuse him."

"There are others like you?" Bofur asked.

"Once, there were many."

"And now?" Ori pressed, leaning forward slightly in his chair.

"Now, there is only one." They sat in silence after that, hoping that one of the others would break it. Bilbo did.

"Back home," he began. "There is a legend that Old Took would always tell when I went to visit him. It was about a particularly courageous hobbit who befriended a bear. But the bear hadn't been a normal animal for it had the power to change into a man and vice versa." All eyes turned to Beorn but the hobbit just kept on talking. "The bear-man and hobbit were the best of friends and went on several adventures together, like taking down orc pacs or challenging trolls. The two would look out for each other, knowing when the other needed him. When the hobbit's parents died, he came to live with his friend, for he no longer felt as if the Shire was home. Many years they lived in peace, killing off the occasional foe. One day, the hobbit decided that it was time that they went on another journey. They traveled around the world, facing many enemies and making many friends. Eventually, they crossed paths with someone they couldn't beat. It was a hoard of giants, each taller than the bear-man. They fought long and hard, and by the end of the battle, both sides were littered with injuries. Suddenly, the largest giant spun around and grabbed a spear, throwing it at the bear-man. The hobbit - ever the loyal person - jumped in front of the weapon, taking it on for himself. While the small man had fallen to the ground, his best friend had lost it, and had killed the other giants in a matter of minutes. When he ran back to the hobbit's side, he was devastated to find out that there was nothing he could do to save his friend. So, he held his hand while he died, tears falling down into the blood mixed ground." Bilbo paused and looked around. Each of the company had their eyes fixed on him and even Beorn was staring at him shocked.

"The hobbit had whispered up at the man not to cry for him, for even though he would leave this world soon, he would always be with his best friend, protecting him from harm. And with that the courageous hobbit had left this world, joining the Valor in theirs, where he sat, watching, as his best friend, his brother in arms, struggled to move on from his death." The dwarves sat in silence before Ori threw his hands in the air.

"But what happened to the bear-man? You can't just end the story there! You have to finish it!" Bilbo just chuckled.

"It had been my favorite when I was a fauntling. While the other faunts had asked for stories about daring hobbits and beautiful ladies, I always wanted that."

"Why?" Bofur asked. Bilbo furrowed his brows.

"Well, maybe because of the way it ended, what it taught. In all of the other tales, the hero always saves the day, but real life isn't always like that. Sometimes we have to face the fact that no matter how much we try, no matter how much we want it, some stories just don't have happy endings." Bilbo ran a hand through his hair, realising for the first time that someone had taken it down. He sighed. While he can braid other's hair, he'd never learned to do his own. Unwrapping a bracelet that had been on his wrist, he pulled back his hair. He turned his attention back to the others and was surprised to find that they were all staring at him. "What?" They looked at each other. Kili leaned forward.

"Why?" Bilbo frowned.

"Why? Well, I suppose that story-" Dori shook his head, interrupting the hobbit.

"That's not what he meant. He want's to know why you didn't put your braids back into your hair?" Bilbo laughed.

"That's what you guys are all freaking out about? It's not that big of a deal." The dwarves looked at him like he was crazy.

"What are you talking about? It's a huge deal!" Thorin looked exasperatedly at the younger man, throwing his hands up in the air when all he got in return was a confused look. "You've got to be kidding me!" Bilbo stood up.

"Why? I just don't know how to braid my own hair!" Thorin blinked, looked over at his nephews, before he busted out laughing. This set the others off and soon all of the dwarves were holding their sides, leaving one hobbit thoroughly confused. "Okay, does anyone want to explain this to me?" wiping tears from his eyes, the dwarf king came and sat down next to Bilbo.

"Braids are very important to dwarven culture. They signify many different things; mastery in a weapon, overcoming a challenge, the death of a family member, first love, or a betrothal. Your braids meant mastery in weapons-12 I believe- 2 deaths of a family member, and 3 challenges that you overcame. By not putting them back in, you made us think that we had done something to offend you. But the fact that you can't braid your own hair is just hilarious to us. Dwarflings learn how to do that before they wield weapons." Bilbo cracked a smile. When you put that way, it did seem rather humorous. Thorin reached out his hand and tugged on his hair.

"I can re-braid your hair for you, if you would allow me." The hobbit looked into Thorin's eyes and nodded, sitting down on the floor and leaning against the dwarf's legs. As Thorin ran his hands through Bilbo's hair, Beorn leaned forward.

"You need to reach the mountain before the last days of autumn?" Gandalf nodded.

"Before Durin's Day falls, yes." Beorn frowned.

"You are running out of time."

"Which is why we must go through Mirkwood." The skin changer sighed.

"A darkness lies upon that forest. Fell things creep beneath those trees. There is an alliance between the Orcs of Moria and the Necromancer in Dol Guldur. I would not venture there except in great need."

"We will take the Elven Road. That path is still safe." Gandalf said, crossing his arms. Beorn scoffed.

"Safe? The Wood-Elves of Mirkwood are not like their kin. They're less wise and more dangerous. But it matters not." Bilbo frowned.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"These lands are crawling with Orcs. Their numbers are growing, and you are on foot. You will never reach the forest alive." Thorin finishes braiding the hobbit's hair - neither hobbit nor dwarf move from their spots- and looks up, shocked. Beorn stands up from the table and faces Thorin.

"I don't like dwarves. They're greedy and blind, blind to the lives of those they deem lesser than their own." The skin changer gently picks up a mouse that had been scampering on the table and holds it, all the while approaching Thorin. who is standing with his arms crossed.

"But Orcs I hate more. What do you need?"

The Company saddles and rides Beorn's ponies. Bilbo, much to the skin changers' dismay, insisted that they leave immediately, even if he wasn't completely healed. Beorn did give Oin a satchel full of enough hobbit medicine to last years, with strict instructions of when, where, and how to use them. As they ride away, Beorn, who is staying at his house, looks around for danger.

"Go now, while you have the light. The hunters are not far behind." The company rides rapidly across the land, slowing to a stop as they approach a looming, gloomy-looking forest. Gandalf dismounts and walks into the edge of the forest through an ancient archway.

"The Elven Gate." He turns and calls to the others. "Here lies our path through Mirkwood." Dwalin looks around warily.

"No sign of the Orcs. We have luck on our side." Gandalf squints as he sees something in the distance; it is Beorn, in his bear-form, watching them from a distant ridge.

"Set the ponies loose. Let them return to their master."The dwarves and Bilbo dismount and begin taking their supplies off the ponies. Bilbo approaches the forest, but the second he enters it, he stumbles back several feet, bumping into Fili, who steadies him.

"This forest feels...sick, as if a disease lies upon it. Is there no way around?" Gandalf shakes his head, looking worriedly at the hobbit.

"Not unless we go two hundred miles north, or twice that distance south." Bilbo sighed.

"I will not be much help in there, magic wise. I can already feel the darkness that is over the forest draining me." Gandalf follows a path a few feet further into the shadows and approaches a plant-covered statue. He seems to be having an internal debate, before he suddenly rushes back out. The unladen ponies trot away; Nori is just about to finish unsaddling Gandalf's horse when Gandalf emerges from the forest.

"Not my horse! I need it." As Gandalf strides forward, the Company, minus Bilbo who is still staring warily into the trees look up and murmurs in surprise.

"You're not leaving us?" Bofur says incredulously.

"I would not do this unless I had to." Gandalf turns and begins walking toward his horse; he speaks as he passes Thorin. "I'll be waiting for you at the overlook, before the slopes of Erebor. Keep the map and key safe. Do not enter that mountain without me." Gandalf stops and looks hard at Thorin as he says this, who nods, then continues toward his horse. "This is not the Greenwood of old. The very air of the forest is heavy with illusion. It will seek to enter your mind and lead you astray." Ori gasps, a frightened look on his face.

"Lead us astray? What does that mean?" Gandalf gets on his horse. It begins raining lightly, even though the sun is out.

"You must stay on the path; do not leave it. If you do, you will never find it again." Gandalf wheels his horse and rides away. "No matter what may come, stay on the path!" He yells over his shoulder. The dwarves watch him until he can no longer be seen. Thorin walks over to the hobbit.

"Bilbo," Thorin said. He doesn't answer. "Bilbo!" The dwarf king said more forcefully than before, shaking his shoulder. The hobbit looked up surprised.

"I'm sorry, what were you saying?" Thorin drapes an arm over the hobbit's shoulders, pulling him close.

"I was asking if you were alright." Bilbo nodded and kissed Thorin's cheek, before he left the dwarfs warm embrace.

"I'll be fine," He said as he got his supplies. Dwalin and Balin exchanged concerned looks when they say that their hobbit was moving rather sluggishly, no longer operating with his usual grace.

Gandalf was gone, something was happening to their hobbit, and they had to go into an orc infested elven wood.


	11. Chapter 10: Mysteries in Mirkwood

Chapter Ten: Mysteries in Mirkwood

Thorin and the Company turn toward the forest. "Come on. We must reach the mountain before the sun sets on Durin's Day." Dwalin nods, his face set determinedly

"Durin's Day. Let's go!"

"This is our one chance to find the hidden door," Balin says. The Company enters Mirkwood. Bilbo is last into the forest, and with every step he takes into it, his mind is getting cloudier, his walking more uncoordinated. They follow the paved path that started at the Elven Gate. Thorin leads. At one point, the path turns a corner.

"The path goes this way," Thorin said. As the dwarves and Bilbo keep following the path through the forest, it twists and turns over all sorts of terrain such as bare ground, high ledges, fallen tree trunks, and more. The color palette used is very blue/gray, and gloomy. Dwalin thumps the handle of his hammer on the ground to find the paving stones of the trail.

"This way." They continue walking. Bilbo notices that his companions seem to be affected by the forest, too, and tries his best to get their hopes back up, singing songs from the shire, telling stories, circulating between each of the dwarves, joking around with them. Bilbo is walking back to Fili and Kili who are towards the end of the group, when suddenly he groans, holding his head in his hands before he stumbled and fell to the ground. The others are by his side in a second, but Oin pushed them all out of the way.

"I can't find anything wrong with him," the healer said. "He just collapsed." Bilbo slowly sat up, rubbing his temples.

"I'll be fine," he said, repeating his earlier words. The dwarves look at him skeptically. Ignoring the pounding of his head, Bilbo raises his hands. "Really, I just got a bit overwhelmed. I'll be fine." Bilbo stood up and smiled, convincing no one, but they kept moving because what choice did they have? Bilbo tried not to let it show, but the others could tell that he was in pain by the way he stumbled every few feet and the fact that he stayed at the back of the group, no longer moving around. The dwarves started to feel even worse, the dark magic affecting their minds, and this time, no hobbit came around and cleared their heads.

* * *

"Air. I need air." Bofur said. Oin groaned.

"My head, it's spinning." The dwarves suddenly run into each other as Nori, in front, stops abruptly. "What's happening?" Thorin started shouldering his way to the front of the group.

"Keep moving. Nori, why have we stopped?"

"The path...it's disappeared!" The other dwarves share shocked looks.

"What's going on?"

"We've lost the path!" Oin cried out. They are standing in front of a steep cliff, and there is no path ahead of them.

"Find it. All of you look. Look for the path!" Thorin commanded and the others start looking around. The path is not far away from them, but on the other side of the cliff. They had unknowingly left it some time ago. The Company wanders through the forest. The forest is beginning to affect them even more, and they stagger about.

"I don't remember this place before. None of it's familiar." Balin mutters.

"It's got to be here." Dori shouts.

"What hour is it?"

"I do not know. I don't even know what day it is," Dwalin replied, answering his king.

"Is there no end to this accursed place?" The dwarves are all muttering and rambling as they wander about. Bilbo absentmindedly plucks a spiderweb; it vibrates, and the vibrations continue through the various linked spiderwebs and far off into the forest. Bilbo plucks the web again. He hears a strange whispering noise. [They continue walking; Bilbo looks down and sees himself walking backward, although it's actually just an illusion. He looks back at Dori, behind him, and sees himself. His entire vision begins shifting and tilting. Ori leans down and picks up a tobacco pouch. Dori then takes it from him.

"Look." Ori says to his eldest brother.

"A tobacco pouch. There's dwarves in these woods." Bofur takes the pouch from Dori.

"Dwarves from the Blue Mountains, no less. This is exactly the same as mine." Bilbo frowns.

"Because it is yours. You understand? We're going round in circles. We are lost." Dwalin scoffs.

"We're not lost. We keep heading east." Oin glares at the tattooed warrior.

"But which way is east? We've lost the sun." As the dwarves begin bickering indistinctly, Bilbo looks up and sees a bit of sun through the tree canopy far above him. He speaks quietly, and no one else can hear him over the bickering.

"The sun. We have to find the sun. Up there. We need to-" The dwarves have started fighting and pushing each other around. Thorin stands apart, listening. He hears the strange whispering sound that Bilbo heard earlier and mutters to himself.

"What? What's that?" The whispering continues; Thorin turns and yells at the dwarves. "Enough! Quiet! All of you! We're being watched." Bilbo climbs up one of the trees nearby; as he crawls, he doesn't notice the masses of spiderwebs all around him. His head breaks through the trees and into the air; suddenly, it is as if a spell has been broken, and Bilbo's head clears. As he breathes deeply, he sees blue butterflies flying all around him. The sun is setting, and everything looks beautiful. Bilbo smiles and laughs. He then looks off into the distance and sees several landmarks. He calls down loudly to the dwarves below.

"I- I can see a lake! And a river. And the Lonely Mountain. We're almost there!" His face grows concerned when he hears no reply from his dwarves. "Can you hear me? I know which way to go! Hello?" Bilbo looks down, trying to see the dwarves. He hears a thumping noise in the distance and looks up. "Hello?" In the distance, trees move haphazardly under the weight of something approaching. The movement is coming straight toward Bilbo and the dwarves.

* * *

"What? What's that?" The whispering continues; Thorin turns and yells at the dwarves. "Enough! Quiet! All of you! We're being watched." Suddenly Kili jumps up.

"Where is Bilbo?" The others look around wildly, but no one catches a sight of their hobbit. Thorin swallows that lump that has formed in his throat.

"We have to find him." The company looks around and see a flicker of lights in the trees. Sharing a look with his family, Thorin is the first to step towards the light. The others leave the path and move toward the lights. They see elves sitting in a clearing around a fire, feasting and singing. However, the moment they burst into the clearing, the lights are snuffed out, and the dwarves can hardly find one another. The same thing happens twice more. On the last occasion, everyone becomes separated, struggling to find one another in the darkness. Balin is the first who notices that Thorin is gone, causing the others to start to lose hope. They were lost in a dark forest with both their ruler and the holder of their hope have disappeared. What were they to do?

* * *

Bilbo swings down from trees, falling clumsily to the ground when he landed hard on his feet. Groaning, he pulled out his sword, slightly scared to find out how heavy it was. "Okay. Time to find my dwarves." He set off into the forest, trying to keep an eye on everything around him. Bilbo falls to the ground several times, cutting himself up even more every time on the thick roots that line the forest floor. He steps forward, only to trip over a spiderweb and fall several feet, bouncing painfully against several trees, and yelling in pain and shock the entire time. His voice catches as he rolls to a stop on the cold floor beneath him, then watches in horror as a web parts to reveal a massive spider. As the spider opens its fangs and hisses at him, it grabs the hobbit in his arms, and throws him up and Bilbo lands in an even bigger spiderweb. He is stuck to it and is thus unable to resist as the spider wraps him up tightly. That last thing he remembered was what he could have sworn was Thorin's voice calling out for him.

* * *

Bilbo was pretty sure that hanging upside down for who knows how many hours couldn't possibly be good for his health. And for anyone who plans on being captured by giant spiders any time soon, make sure you have a good hold on your weapon. When the arachnine had launched the hobbit into the air, he had lost his grip on his sword and was now having to deal with the fact that trying to get a sword out of it's scabbard while covered in a spider's silk was a lot harder than he originally thought. Everytime he thought he almost got it, the cool metal would slip from his fingers and back into it's case. Eventually he did get it but almost drops it again when he feels a spider carrying the web-encased Bilbo high into the trees. It then reaches for him with its jaws, presumably to administer its poison. Bilbo realizes what is happening and just as the spider bends toward him, he manages to swing his sword, which he had been holding, straight up from his body, through the web, and into the spider. He guts it and flings it over the edge of the branch he had been lying on, sending it crashing to the forest floor. Bilbo quickly rips off the cocoon of web he has been wrapped in. Looking up, he sees the dwarves wrapped up and hanging from branches; he hides behind a tree as a spider climbs up the other side of the trunk. "Confound it all," he whispers. Bilbo pulls out his Ring from his pocket. "Valor, please forgive me," he says and slips it on his finger. In addition to becoming invisible, he enters the Ring's "other dimension," and he can suddenly understand what the spiders are saying.

"Kiilll theemm. Kiill theemm."

"Eat them now, alive and runny."

"Their hide is tough. There is good juice inside."

"Stick it again! Stick it again! Finish it off!" The spiders surround one wrapped dwarf; the dwarf kicks, but can't do much when wrapped up so tightly. "Ahh! The meat's alive and kicking!"

"Kill them, kill them now. Let us feast." The rest of the spiders take up the chant, "Feast! Feast!" Bilbo, holding his sword in front of him, approaches the spiders. He ducks just in time as a spider crawls along a branch above him, going toward the dwarves. Bilbo throws a piece of wood away and to the side, causing all the spiders to rush after the source of noise. "What is it? What is it? Kill it! Feast! Feast!" One spider stays behind and prepares to eat a wrapped and squirming Bombur.

"Fat and juicy. Just a little taste." he spider drops Bombur to the tree trunk and prepares to eat him. Bilbo sneaks up and strikes it on its rear with his sword. The spider spins around and hisses, but Bilbo is invisible to it. Bilbo keeps slicing at it, slicing away a leg and part of its head. "Curses! Where is it? Where is it?!" Bilbo pulls off his ring, revealing himself to the spider. He gives a little smile before he speaks.

"Here!" Bilbo thrust his sword directly into the spider's head. Bilbo pulls out his sword and the spider, dead, crashes to the ground. Bilbo looks at his sword. "Honestly, this worked better than I thought it would, considering how I'm feeling at the moment." Bilbo really did feel like crap, his head pounding, blood dripping from his wounds and his chest still aching from his almost but not quite healed ribs. He looks toward where the dwarves are still wrapped and tied up. Bilbo uses his sword to cut down all the dwarves. They land on the forest floor and proceed to rip off their wrappings, cursing and yelling the entire time.

"Who saved us?" Bofur asked, looking around. Bilbo smiled.

"I'm up here!" Just then, a spider jumps at Bilbo from underneath the branch he was standing on, and it pins him underneath it. However, he manages to put his sword in front of him just in time, stabbing the spider through the belly. As the spider falls off the branch, Bilbo, entangled in its legs, falls with it. As the pair smashes against branches on their way down, Bilbo's ring falls off his finger and lands some distance away from where Bilbo lands. Bilbo gets up and begins stumbling toward where the Ring fell.

* * *

Meanwhile, the dwarves have freed themselves and they try to escape, only to be surrounded by the returning spiders. They fight against the spiders with their various weapons. Bombur is knocked to the floor by a spider, and it stands over him to bite him.

"Grab a leg!" Dwalin shouts. The others grab each of the spider's legs."Pull!" The dwarves pull at the spider's legs, and they manage to pull its legs right off its body. The dismembered body of the spider lands on Bombur.

* * *

Bilbo looks around for the ring, cursing under his breath. He never should have even use the cursed thing. "Where is it? Where is it? Come on. Where is it?" Bilbo slowly looks over his shoulder; he sees the Ring lying on the ground nearby. Relieved, he begins walking toward it. Suddenly , a young, odd-looking spider emerges from the ground just behind the RIng. The spider's legs push the Ring aside as the spider crawls toward Bilbo. Bilbo looks at it angrily, then rushes at it with his sword raised, yelling all the way. He begins to hack at the spider in a berserk manner, hacking and slicing all over the place.

* * *

The dwarves are still fighting the spiders. A spider manages to grab Kili.

"Kili!" Fili yells, trying hard to get to his brother. Bilbo continues hacking wildly at the spider, slicing off limbs, feelers, and more. He sticks his sword in its throat, ripping it out, then jumps and stabs the spider through the head and into the ground. As the spider falls, Bilbo pants heavily. He grabs the Ring off the ground, then holds it up and shows it to the dead spider.

"I'd let you have this. I don't want anything to do with this lump of gold. But I think that Vala would be mad at me. So no. You have to die." Using one of knifes, the hobbit swings it up and slashes it down on the large head, severing it from it's body. He looks down and, seeing his dwarves in trouble, is about to go and join the party, when suddenly he freezes at who just arrived to help them. A blonde Elf, runs through the treetops, then swings down a spider's silk in order to land on it and kill it. He slides on the forest floor under the spider facing Dwalin, slicing it in half, and comes up kneeling with an arrow nocked in his bow and pointed at the dwarves. Several other Mirkwood elves appear, drawing arrows and pointing them at the dwarves.

"Do not think I won't kill you, dwarf. It would be my pleasure." The dwarves look around and see that they are completely surrounded and outnumbered by Mirkwood Elves, all with drawn bows aimed at the dwarves.

"Help!"

"Kili!" The dwarves whirl around and see a spider pulling Kili away by the foot. A female Elf, runs through the forest. She kills three spiders with her bow and knife, then kills the spider pulling Kili with an arrow. She turns to attack another spider behind her, and yet another spider rushes toward Kili.

"Throw me your dagger! Quick!" She scoffed.

"If you think I'm giving you a weapon, dwarf, you're mistaken!" The elf kills her spider with her knife, then spins and throws the knife, killing the spider that was attacking Kili. Kili looks on in amazement. The blonde elf tilted his head when Dwalin starts to lift his weapon.

"Please do attack us. It would be so easy for me to kill you."

"It would be easy for me to kill you, too!" Everyone spins around to see Bilbo. The hobbit has an arrow almost pressed against the elf's head. "Don't think I won't you, your highness. You attacked my friends; it would be my pleasure." Dwalin, who seems to be the only one not completely shocked at the fact the hobbit is alive speaks up.

"You know this elf?" Bilbo nods.

"Prince Legolas of Mirkwood. Almost an even more annoying elf than his father."

"Then why don't you just kill him?" Bilbo snorts.

"I'm not really in the mood to die at the moment. If you had looked around you, Master Dwalin, you would see that all of the other elves all have their weapons on me. The moment I release this arrow, I am dead." The dwarves looked around and found that his words were true. Every single one of the elves had their bows pointed at their hobbit, who was getting paler each second. "And really, what did you guys do to be captured by elves? You would think -" Suddenly Bilbo doubles over, his weapons sliding out of his hold as he starts breathing heavily. At first the dwarves thought that the elves has shot their friend, but they were as confused as the Company was. Bilbo looks up. "I think I am going to be sick." And he is. All over the back of Legolas' tunic. When he is done, the hobbit stands up and leans against a tree, holding his head in his hands, before sliding to the forest floor.

"Bilbo!" Oin, Fili, Kili, and Ori try to reach him, but they are forced back by the elves. Legolas, while completely disgusted by the sick that his dripping off of his clothes, kneels down and looks at the hobbit curiously.

"You are not a dwarf, but you are traveling with a band of them. You look like a halfling but do not act like one. Who are you?" Bilbo manages to sit up and sends the elf a smirk.

"Like I would tell you." Legolas growls.

"Bring them to the palace. Father will want to meet them." He turns to look at Bilbo, who is being dragged to his feet by several of the warriors. "Especially you."

* * *

The Company is led through the raised wooden walkways of the Woodland Realm. The entire place is built out of tree roots in a subterranean cavern. Down and down they go until they finally reach the dungeon. The dwarves are pushed, protesting, into several cells.

"This is not the end of it! You hear me?" Dwalin shouts.

"Let us out of here!"

"Get off me! The elf in charge of Fili finds another large dagger hidden in his coat, and Fili sighs in frustration. Kili addresses Tauriel as she locks him in his cell. "Aren't you going to search me? I could have anything down my trousers."

"Or nothing," She replies. As Tauriel haughtily slams the cell door shut and walks away, Kili looks after her and smiles a little. As one of the elves are about to throw Bilbo into a cell, Legolas holds up a hand, stopping him.

" _Wait, Father will want to speak to this one. Bring him with us."_ Bilbo looks up startled, having understood what he said, but the dwarves looked around confusedly.

"What did he say?" Bombur asks the elf. One of the guards club him over his head and push him into the cell.

"Your little friend is to be brought before the king. You better hope he tells him what he wants to hear, or it is unlikely you will ever see him again." As the elves drag Bilbo away, Dwalin and several other dwarves throw themselves against their cell doors, grunting in their effort. Balin finally yells at them.

"Leave it! There's no way out. This is no Orc dungeon; these are the halls of the Woodland Realm. No one leaves here but by the king's consent."

* * *

Thorin wished that they had never gone into this cursed forest. The moment he had been separated from the group as the chased silly lights, he was ambushed by a group of elves, who took him to their castle and brought him before their king, Thranduil.

"Some may imagine that a noble quest is at hand," Thranduil said. "A quest to reclaim a homeland and slay a dragon. I myself suspect a more prosaic motive: attempted burglary, or something of that ilk." He looks closely at Thorin. "You have found a way in. You seek that which would bestow upon you the right to rule: the King's Jewel, the Arkenstone. It is precious to you beyond measure. I understand that. There are gems in the mountain that I too desire. White gems of pure starlight. I offer you my help." Thorin, who would rather be back out in the forest with Bilbo and the dwarves, replies slowly.

"I am listening."

"I will let you go, if you but return what is mine." Thorin turns and slowly starts walking away.

"A favor for a favor," he said sarcastically. He wonders if being around Bilbo so much has made him more like the hobbit. But thinking about his friend - more than a friend, actually - made him feel like crying, so he turned his attention back to the elf king.

"You have my word. One king to another." Thorin stops walking. Still facing away from Thranduil, he speaks. His voice gets louder and louder as he speaks, everything that has happened over the past few weeks forcing him to blow up on someone.

"I would not trust Thranduil, the great king, to honor his word should the end of all days be upon us!" Thorin spins around and points at Thranduil. He is now shouting. "You lack all honor! I've seen how you treat your friends. We came to you once, starving, homeless, seeking your help, but you turned your back. You turned away from the suffering of my people and the inferno that destroyed us! **Die a death of flames!** " Thranduil leaps down from his throne and puts his face right in front of Thorin's.

"Do not talk to me of dragon fire. I know its wrath and ruin. I have faced the great serpents of the north." As Thranduil speaks, his face contorts, and we see his face covered with what appears to be burns and scars from his past encounters with dragons. His left eye is milky and unseeing. He draws away, and his face returns to normal. "I warned your grandfather of what his greed would summon, but he would not listen." Thranduil turns and walks up the steps to his throne. "You are just like him." A commotion coming from the doorway draws the attention of the two rulers, who both turn around to see who was interrupting this oh so 'important conversation'. Several guards along with the king's son, Legolas, entered the room, but it was who they had with them that made Thorin's heart stop. Bilbo, covered in blood, spider guts, and looking dazed, was stumbling along next to two of the elves, who had his arms in a tight grip. While most would have been repulsed by the sight of the hobbit, to Thorin he was beautiful. Forgetting all about the elf king behind him, Thorin started running forward.

"Bilbo!" The hobbit stopped abruptly, looking up with green eyes filled with surprise. The dwarf king reached the group and easily pulls the hobbit out of the hold of the stunned and confused elves. Holding Bilbo in a tight hug, Thorin buried his head in a shoulder, hiding his eyes that were threatening to spill tears. Bilbo held the dwarf just as tightly, whispering things in his ear.

"It's alright, we're fine. We are all fine." Before Thorin can respond, he feels Bilbo being pulled out of his arms while he is being pulled away as well. The dwarf tries to fight against the elves, but he, along with Bilbo are forced into kneeling positions on opposite sides of the room.

"Well, well, well, who do we have here." Thranduil glides down from his throne and stands before Bilbo. "You don't look like a dwarf, but you have gained the affections of their king," He said, turning the hobbits face side to side. Thorin growls, having flashbacks about the goblin caves, where Bilbo was being examined just as he was now.

"Don't touch him!" The dwarf shouted, causing Thranduil to turn around and smile at him.

"My, my, you really do care for him. Perhaps we can exploit this rather convenient coincidence." The elf king starts to walk closer to Bilbo when suddenly something on the hobbit's arm catches his eye. "What is this?" Thranduil nods to a guard who in turn takes off Bilbo's shirt. Bilbo doesn't respond, only continues to stare into Thorin's ice blue eyes, trying to tell him that everything will be alright, Thranduil kneels down beside the hobbit, grabbing one of his arms. Suddenly, the king gasps and stumbles back a few steps. Legolas looks concerned.

" _Father, what is it?"_ Thranduil's already snow white skin pales considerably.

"His tattoos." The other elves just look at their ruler with confusion lining their faces.

"What about them? What do they mean?" One of the guards ask. Thranduil regains some of his composure and rises gracefully to his feet.

"He is the chosen one of the Valor."


	12. Chapter 11: A Very Valuable Prisoner

Chapter 11: A Very Valuable Prisoner

Bilbo looked up sharply at the elf king's words. Thranduil in return looked slightly awed and to the shock of the other elves and Thorin, the elf bowed his head to the hobbit.

" _Father,"_ Legolas said, stepping forward and drawing his sword slightly. " _What do you mean Chosen of the Valor?"_ Thranduil stood up and pushed down his son's hand and the blade slid back into its sheath.

"Do not dishonor him. He could kill us all before even I could do anything."

Thorin, seeing the similarity between the King's words and Gandalf's words, decided to speak up. "Bilbo, what are they talking about? You told us about your… talent," He said, deciding not to reveal the hobbit's power to the elves. "But what is this about the Valor?" Bilbo sighed, hoping that no one noticed how he was swaying back and forth - this forest was killing him! Before he could begin to speak, the King of the Elves spoke up, his eyes clouded.

"Your hobbit, who you seem to be very close to, is much more important than one would think a gentle creature from the north could be. He is, in fact, the key to changing the world." Thranduil said as he began to walk around the room, a contemplative look on his face. "The Valor choose one being every decamillineum to represent them here on Middle Earth. They are powerful, they are important, and they would be a very very valuable ally. If one were to control this person of power, why," Thranduil spun around, a smirk on his face, "no one would dare go against him!"

Bilbo closed his eyes tightly and pressed his hands hard against the floor, trying desperately to keep the room from spinning.

Legolas, a wary look in his eyes, approached his king. "Father, if this man is truly as powerful as you say he is, you can't possibly think to hold him here against his will. And if the Valor sent him here now, with the dwarves, then could it be that we should let-"

"No!" Thranduil yelled, causing his son to stumble back a few feet in shock. "You do not tell me what to do! I am king, and my will shall be carried out, as I say it, EXACTLY how I say it." He turned to one of the guards. "Take our two, very valuable guests to separate cells - make sure that they are far apart."

"Father!" Legolas said, trying once again in vain to appeal to his father.

"That is enough, Legolas," The ancient elf said.

Thorin, who had been watching the conversation with a bemused expression on his face, finally chose to speak up when several guards began to surround Bilbo.

"You can't just keep us here!" He roared, shrugging off the elves who attempted to grab his arms.

"I can, and I will!" Thranduil yelled back. The rooms attention was drawn to the guards surrounding the hobbit. One roughly grabbed his arms and forced Bilbo to his feet, causing his skin to take on a sickly grey pallor. The Wind suddenly rushed into the hall and threw the elf back, throwing him against a wall, where he crumpled and lay unmoving on the floor. Bilbo fell down and Thorin took advantage of the elves shock by rushing to his love's side.

"Bilbo," he whispered, cradling the hobbit's head in his lap. Bilbo's eyes fluttered before opening at the sound of his name being called.

"Thorin, I don't feel so good," he breathed out, causing the dwarf's eyebrows to crease in worry.

"I know, **ghivashel,** I know."

"The trees, they need help, but I don't know how to help them! It's coming for them, Thorin, please you have to help me!" Bilbo's words became more frantic and urgent as he spoke and Thorin ran his fingers through his hair in a vain attempt to calm him down.

"Shh, **ghivashel** , you have to block them out! They are only hurting you!"

"I can't, Thorin, I can't! They call to me, they want to be safe but he's turning them dark! I can't stop him, I don't know how, please Thorin!" Tears of frustration started to leak out of Bilbo's hazy eyes, but before Thorin could do anything he was roughly pulled away from his hobbit and restrained by no less than a dozen guards as he tried to make Thranduil listen.

"Please! You have to get him out of the forest, it's killing him! Just let him go!" But his words fell on deaf ears, and the last thing he saw before he was dragged from the room was a shaking Bilbo whose eyes were pleading for him to help him.

* * *

Bilbo wasn't sure when he had passed out but the next thing he knew he awoke in a cell with a thin blanket placed upon him. Shuddering, he pushed the piece of cloth off of him and leaned against the wall for support as he struggled to his feet. When he finally managed to stand up straight, he instantly regretted it. The small cell spun and black dots appeared in his vision. A wave of nausea rolled over him, but he forced down the bile that was rising in his throat. It would do him no good to get sick all over the stone floor.

His head pounded and he stumbled forward a few steps until he was close enough to the bars to be able to press his forehead against the cool metal. He tried to speak to the wind to find out exactly where he was, but the voice screamed in his mind, scrambling his thoughts every few seconds.

" _Save us!"_

" _He's coming! You must defeat him!"_

" _It's dark, so dark!"_

" _We can't breathe - CAN'T BREATHE!"_

" _HELP US!"_

"BE QUIET!" Bilbo screamed, his voice echoing in the dark cavern. "Please!" And for a blissful moment, everything was silent.

The wind rushed in and engulfed Bilbo in an embrace, whispering encouragement in his ear. "I need to get us out of here, so you have any ideas?" Bilbo asked, his voice pleading. "Because there is no way that I would be able to fire-travel myself out, let alone all 14 of us."

The wind danced around the cell, gleefully telling Bilbo her plan. "Sneak out from the cellar? How could that work? It would just bring us deeper into the kingdom." Bilbo tilted his head and laughed at the wind's next words. "Use the barrels? You're a genius, my friend!" The wind preened, the air becoming thicker in the cell.

"Only problem - I'm stuck in this cell." Bilbo yelped when he felt the wind slam into him, causing his eyes to light up. "I'm not an idiot, you know. I think it is understandable that I forgot about most of my abilities." Bilbo crouched down and placed his hand on the ground next to the bars. He could feel the earth thrumming with power, even under layers of metal and evilness, and pushing past the dark that coated this place like a second skin, he called out to it, asking it to help him. No sooner had he thought the words, the ground erupted in a shower of dirt and rock and Bilbo dove back towards the end of his cell, covering his head.

When the dust cleared, all that remained of the thought to be unbreakable bars were small shards of metal and holes where the poles had been fixed into the earth. "Thank you," he whispered.

Stepping out of the cell and away from The Wind, Bilbo staggered, the voices reappearing, hammering around his mind. The wind quickly rushed forward and wrapped around the hobbit, forcing the evil back. "That was stupid of me," Bilbo murmured and the wind nudged him as if to say, 'you think?'

Sticking to the shadows, Bilbo walked through the palace, his movements rigid, as if he hadn't moved his muscles in years. How long had he been sleeping?

Bilbo was sure he would have gotten lost a dozen times if the wind hadn't been telling him where to go. The kingdom seemed to go on forever, a maze of endless corridors, winding staircases and vacant rooms.

Finally, Bilbo reached the cellar, where he overheard two elves - who, judging by their uniforms, were guards.

" _The king is throwing a feast tonight,"_ The first one said.

" _Yes, I heard that the wine is supposed to be centuries old!"_

The first one smirked. " _That it is - and guess who managed to snag some?"_

The second elf's head shot up, his eyes widening. " _You got some?"_

" _Three bottles!"_ he said, pulling them out from under the table. " _Would you like a drink?"_

Several glasses later, both elves were passed out, snoring, their heads pressed hard against the table. Bilbo, despite the seriousness, couldn't help but shake his head in disappointment. A hobbit could have drunk three times that and still managed to remember every single one of their relatives names, ages, and favorite food. Who knew elves were lightweights?

Creeping forward, he snagged the keys from the waist of one of the elves and moved to go up the stairs, before turning around and walking back to the elves' side. "I apologize for this, but it wouldn't do for you to wake up and sound the alarm." He grabbed a bottle in each hand and smashed them down on the heads of the elves, ensuring that they would stay knocked out.

Smirking, he allowed the wind to lead him, taking enough turns that Bilbo's head started to spin, until, finally, they reached the armoury. In a secluded corner lay all of the company's weapons and Bilbo couldn't help but be impressed by their collection, even if it didn't compare at all to his own. Working carefully, he grabbed as many as he could, making sure to grab at least one of everyone's weapons.

Bilbo strapped Dwalin's twin axes, Grasper and Keeper across his back, Thorin's sword Orcrist down the middle, Kili's bow slung across a shoulder. Once he was certain he could get all that he could carry, he grabbed a bag and stuffed his weapons into it, knowing that there was no way he could have carried them on his person.

He began to run back down the stairs, wincing at every clang the weapons made. Bilbo knew that his escape was bound to have been discovered by now, but stealthiness wasn't a priority at the moment - speed was.

He reached Balin's cell first, and just about gave the old dwarf a heart attack when he snuck up to the bars and unlocked the door.

"Bilbo!" Balin said, rushing to grasp his hands tightly. "It's good to see you, lad. How did you escape?"

Bilbo smiled, handing the dwarf his weapons. "It's great to see you, too, Balin. But, I think that the story will have to wait for some other time, don't you?"

"Quite right, lad. Elven dungeons aren't the best place to tell stories."

Bilbo laughed and continued letting the dwarves out of the prisons, his smile growing wider at the reunion of each family. Leaving the Company in the cellar with the reminder to be quiet, Bilbo ran up stairs and around corners until the wind told him to stop.

In front of him was the cell that held the last member of their group.

Thorin sat with his back against the bars, his head leaned back and his eyes shut. Bilbo was surprised to see the tear marks on Thorin's face and winced at the frown that marred his usually handsome features. Well, that wouldn't do.

Thorin couldn't get Bilbo out of his head. Normally this wouldn't be a bad thing, but a single image had plagued the dwarf king's mind, leaving him unable to sleep. Thorin was haunted by the last time he had seen Bilbo. His eyes had been so scared - Bilbo was never scared! - and Thorin hadn't been able to help him.

"Why the long face Thorin? While this is no place for a king to be sleeping, I've known you've seen worse." The dwarf king leapt to his feet, reaching for a weapon that wasn't there as he whirled around to face the being who spoke. He gasped at the figure that stood there. Thorin had no idea how Bilbo was here. He stood shocked for several seconds, hoping against hope that he was actually there and wasn't just a figment of his imagination, but as soon as he saw the hobbit smile, he couldn't help but smile back. "Bilbo!" he whispered, and Thorin wondered how he managed to wrangle the keys away from the elves but he didn't bother asking just yet because as soon as the prison door was unlocked he pushed it open and pulled Bilbo in.

Thorin held Bilbo tightly against him, only loosening his hold to catch the hobbit's lips in a kiss that was much different than the last one they shared. This one was rough, full of teeth gnashing and bruised lips and reassurances that the other was okay, that the other was there, that they both were alive.

Bilbo pulled back first, his breath coming out in gasps. "We really need to get back to the others," he managed to say, and Thorin couldn't help but smirk at being able to fluster the usually eloquent hobbit so easily. The two were about to run off when Bilbo suddenly remembered something and reached over his shoulder. "I believe that this is yours," he said, pulling the elven sword off of his back and presenting it to Thorin, who hooked it to his side. The dwarf king was rather shocked at how much the familiar weight of the weapon calmed him down. The two raced through the halls, being careful to avoid the few elves that were roaming the halls.

Bilbo was surprised that some alarm hadn't been set off yet - surely someone had noticed that all the prisoners were missing.

 **~ TIME SKIP OF ABOUT 10 MINUTES ~**

Bilbo helped the last dwarf get into a barrel and smiled grimly, causing Thorin to look up at him, alarmed.

"Bilbo," the king started warningly, but the hobbit only smiled.

"I'll meet you in just a few seconds." Bilbo walked over to the lever at grasped it firmly with both hands. "Oh, and hold your breath." Bilbo pulls the lever, and the part of the floor that the barrels were on tilts downward into an opening; the barrels roll out the opening and fall several feet into a river that runs beneath the Woodland Realm. The dwarves yell as they fall, and the barrels make loud thumping noises. The elves sleeping around the table stir and begin to wake up. Bilbo cast them weary looks before pulling the lever once more. He catches sight of a dwarf with red hair at the stairs, several other elves at her back, and waves cheerily at them. "I am most disappointed with my stay in Mirkwood, please inform your king that I have no plans of ever returning." Bilbo ran and slid, just making it through the opening before it closed. He aimed for one of the empty barrels and landed squarely in it, causing him to groan as his feet slam into the barrel bottom. Sending the others a smile, the hobbit held his hand above the water. The liquid swelled and pushed all of the barrels out from under the kingdom and into the sunlight. Bilbo catches sight of a waterfall in front of them and curses, Thorin doing the same a few barrels over.

"Hold on!" Thorin yelled. Bilbo flipped out of his barrel as the wood hit a high rock and he sputtered, grabbing onto the robe that was wrapped around its side.

The dwarves, Bilbo, and the barrels plunge through the rapids, and Bilbo winces every time his submerged slam against a rock, but he doesn't allow himself to pay mind to it.

The hobbit's only thoughts were focused on the barrels. It took all of his concentration and a considerable amount of power to control the river so that none of the dwarves were hurt in the rapids. Water was the hardest element to control, being that it was always trying to break free - it wanted to go every where and it hates being restrained. Bilbo's heart was racing and his head kept going underwater and he kept losing his grip on the barrel. A few times he fell and his head went under water. The hobbit opened his eyes and couldn't help but think that water really was quite remarkable. Bilbo was jerked out of his peaceful musings when a hand fisted in the back of his coat and wrenched him up and out of the water, where Bilbo gasped in breaths of air.

"You are not getting away from me that easily," Thorin said as he hauled Bilbo into a nearby barrel.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Bilbo gasped out, his eyes fogged as he argued with the river. Water was stubborn.

Bilbo caught sight of a regiment of elves racing alongside them and almost growled. Why couldn't one of his plans at least work out the way they were supposed to?

" _Shut the gate!"_ Bilbo glared at the back of Legolas' head, wishing that the prince would just be kind and let them escape, instead of making things more difficult. An elf with him blows on a horn; as the dwarves round a corner in the river, they see a guardpost built above the river. The heavily armored elves standing guard there hear the horn and come to attention; one of them pulls a lever, causing a heavy metal sluice gate to block the river. The dwarves in their barrels come to a stop at the gate, unable to float further.

"No!" Thorin roars, his voice full of rage, and Bilbo can only agree. The barrels pile into each other; the elven guards draw their swords, but one is suddenly shot in the back with a black arrow. Several growling orcs swarm over the guardpost, killing the elves. Dozens of orcs run out from the bushes and Bilbo was seriously beginning to wonder which of the Valor hate him.

" _ **Slay them all!"**_ Bolg, the son of Azog. yelled in Black Speech. The orcs begin throwing themselves at the dwarves in their barrels; all of the dwarves draw their weapons and fight off the orcs, each of them getting scraped up.

Kili looked up and saw the lever the elven guard had pulled earlier. He hands Fili his bow, even though he knows his brother is much better with a sword. "Cover me," he said, leaping out of his barrel before Fili can try and talk him out of it. Only when he reached the stairs does he realize that he left his sword in the bottom of his bucket. He ducks under a swing from an orc, but the sword shifts and cuts him across his cheek.

"Kili!" Dwalin grabbed the young prince's sword and throws it to Kili, who then fights his way to the top of the stairs. As Kili fights an orc, another one leaps up from behind him, raising its spear to stab him. Fili drops the bow into his barrel, not wanting to risk hitting his brother and instead throws a dagger. The blade sails through the air, burying itself in the orc's head, killing it instantly. As Kili reaches for the lever, a black arrow sails towards Kili's unprotected back. Fili knows that there is no way that he could hit the moving arrow from where he was and can only watch in shock as the weapon flies towards his little brother.

Suddenly, a column of water shoots up out of the river, blocking the arrow just seconds before it would have hit Kili.

"Kili!" Bilbo shouts as he decapitates an orc. "Pull that damn lever and then get back down here!"

"Yes, sir!" Kili leaps at the lever, slamming it down and the gate opens, causing the river to begin to pull the barrels - and the dwarves - further downstream. Kili jumps off the platform and lands into an empty barrel.

"Nice job," Bilbo yells, staring at the churning water, sweat on his brow. Kili smiles.

An orc jumps from an overhanging tree branch toward Balin, but Thorin throws his sword and pins the orc to the tree; as the orc drops its weapon, Thorin catches it while floating beneath him, and he throws back to Bombur, who throws it to Nori, who throws it to Fili, who kills an orc with it. An orc leaps onto Dwalin barrel, only for Dwalin to headbutt it off and slice into it with his axe. The dwarves see a low-hanging tree branch stretched across the river in front of them, with several orcs on it.

"Cut the log!" Thorin yelled, As he floats under it, Thorin hits it with his sword, then Bofur hits it with his weapon, and Dwalin, right behind him, hits the branch with his axe, breaking it and causing the orcs on it to fall into the river.

"Bombur!" Dwalin throws one of his axes to Bombur, who kills an orc that had just jumped onto his barrel. The Orc's spear ends up pinning it to an overhanging tree branch; the other end of the spear catches onto Bombur's barrel and catapults it through the air and onto the riverbank, where the barrel rolls and tramples multitudes of orcs. The barrel flips through the air to the other side of the river, where it tramples more orcs. Eventually, the barrel comes to a stop, and orcs surround it. Before they can attack it, Bombur kicks out the bottom, then sticks his arms holding axes through the sides. He then starts spinning rapidly with the axes extended, mowing down all the orcs around him. He then runs toward the river, tosses his axe to one of the floating dwarves, then gracefully jumps into an empty barrel.

The elves manage to kill the rest of the orcs and Legolas decides to not continue chasing them and instead orders Tauriel to bring the remaining Orc back to Mirkwood with them.

The Company continues to float down the river with Bilbo occasionally steering them away from any rocks that could have capsized them. The river calmed, and the barrels floated over to riverbank. Bilbo stumbled out and sat down heavily on a log, his eyes tightly shut. The voices were still there, but fainter.

 _Please,_ he whispered to them, _I will help you when I can but I don't know how yet! Just, please, be quiet._

Slowly the voices receded to the depths of his mind. Bilbo let out a sigh and allowed his head to drop into his hands, his headache fading to a dull throb instead of a pounding sensation.

A body sat down next to him and, wincing at the bright light, Bilbo looked up into the face of Thorin.

"Yes?"

"Bilbo," the king began. "I would like to thank you for saving us from the elven dungeons."

Bilbo couldn't help but snort. "Well, it wouldn't do to allow you all to rot away in there. You do have a home to reclaim, don't you?"

Thorin's eyes shone, with what, Bilbo wasn't sure, but it made his breath catch in his throat all the same. "You are the most magnificent being I have ever met," he said, leaning towards the hobbit.

"You can't have met many hobbits then, have you?" Bilbo breathed out, leaning in as well.

"No, I haven't." Bilbo erased the distance between the two by capturing the dwarves lips in a searing kiss, sending electricity down his body. Thorin reached up and cupped Bilbo's cheek, running a finger along his eyelid, while Bilbo tangled his fingers in the dwarf's hair, pulling lightly at the nape and causing the king's mouth to fall open in a soft moan. Bilbo smiled into the kiss and Thorin pulled back slightly, his eyes searching Bilbo's face before he nodded and reached into his pocket, pulling out a small leather pouch.

"You, Bilbo Baggins-Took," Thorin whispered, breath tickling the hobbit's lips, "are the light that shines through the dark, that causes even Mithril to pale in comparison, that makes it's home in my heart. You are my One, I love you with everything I have. Will you allow me to court you?"

Bilbo's eyes widened and a small smile graced his features. "Are you certain, Thorin? There are things that you don't know about me, that I can not tell you-"

"Then I will learn them all," Thorin interrupted him. "When you are ready to tell me, I will be here, right next to you. Every secret, every quirk, every hobby, every passion, I want to be able to claim you and be able to yell from the ramparts that Bilbo Baggins-Took is my One, my husband, my life."

Bilbo was sure he was blushing, he could feel the weight of Thorin's words fill his very being and ignite something deep within his chest. "If you will have me, secrets and all, that I will happily court you. For I do believe that I love you as well."

Thorin's smile could have cut through even the coldest of hearts. He reached into the bag in his hands and pulled out two beads. The first was made of stone, inlaid with tiny yet dazzling jewels and the dwarven words for **One of My Heart.** The second bead was metal and had a crest inlaid with mithril.

Thorin began to weave his fingers through Bilbo's hair, sectioning off a small portion on each side of the hobbit's head. "This bead," Thorin said, referring to the second one. "Has the crest of the House of Durin on it. Because you wear it, it places you under the protection of my family." Seeing Bilbo's slightly confused expression, he elaborated.

"Anyone who dares to try and bring you harm, or attempt to murder you, will have to do so with the knowledge that anything done to you will be taken as treason and the criminal will be tried with the highest penalties of the law."

"The other bead is much more personal." Was Thorin blushing? "It says that you are being courted by a dwarf, me specifically, and that as long as you wear it, you intent to marry me and formally be known as my one - and husband."

Bilbo never once took his eyes off of the dwarf's face, watching as the gentle emotions had flashed across it. As soon as Thorin removed his fingers from Bilbo's hair, Bilbo made to pull him in for a kiss, but, sadly, they were disturbed.

The whooping and groaning coming from the rest of the Company had Bilbo chuckling and Thorin's face to go red with anger.

"Ye couldn't 'ave waited until we reclaimed the mountain, Thorin?" Dwalin moaned, tossing a bag each of gold to his brother and Nori.

"Aye, or at least until we reached Erebor?" Bofur sighed as he, too, tossed money to the others.

Bilbo laughed and was about to say something when a man emerged from the forest, an arrow notched in his bow, causing the dwarves to all draw their weapons. Dwalin ran towards the man but an arrow whistled through the air and buried itself in the wood on Dwalin's axe, just centimeters from his fingers.

"Do it again, and you're dead."

Bilbo just sighed, shaking his head. "Why do people always have to threaten us like that?"


End file.
